Hennie Bekker

Last week I returned to the dance music spotlight with the release of a euphoric trance remix by U.K. based producer Robbie Bronnimann, of the track “Freefall” from my upcoming album Moving On. In the weeks leading up to the production, Robbie said, “To me the direction is very clear that ‘Freefall’ has to be a big epic euphoric anthemic trance remix, that’s the scene that has the most synergy with your work.” I found myself asking why trance would have the most synergy with my work.

This wasn’t planned. I wasn’t actively looking to get my material remixed, in fact coincidence had a lot to do with it. It was actually the result of a chance meeting between my manager, Steven Saffer, and David Stopps (Howard Jones’ manager) during the MIDEM 2010 music conference in France, where they realized that there was mutual contact in Robbie, and in Miriam Stockley who I had the pleasure of working with on various sessions and projects in South Africa.  David had previously managed both Miriam and Robbie. The idea of Robbie remixing some of my work followed, and my manager reached out to him with the suggestion.

I discussed the project with my team, but it was only after listening to some of the remixes that Robbie had done for other artists that it all made sense. Firstly, I really liked Robbie’s style. Although the remixes were all very different, I found that in most of them, there was a lot of creative use of layering and reverbs. I think this was Robbie’s thing and not a ‘trance’ thing, and that really excited me because it’s something I like to do with my own material. Robbie also seemed to be using a lot of the same sounds. We did a video conference early on, at one point his five year old daughter Daisy was climbing all over him….even on his head!. “This has got to be the most informal business call I’ve ever had!” Robbie exclaimed. I just got a really nice vibe from him, and as it turned out we have much of the same gear….lots of soft synths (software based synthesizers that are basically computer programs running on a computer). This felt so comfortable and easy, I had to do it.

But…I had to give yet more thought to it. For one, I had to consider the fact that this was very different from what I’d done in the past, and I didn’t want this to look like a departure from my more new age and relaxation material, which it most definitely isn’t – I’m actually working on a new album now that I think is going to be one of my best albums for “wellness” – but I thought why not? I really enjoy exploring different directions and it would be interesting to see what feedback I would get. Anyhow, this wouldn’t be the first time I was doing something strictly electronic – I’ve been involved in the dance music scene before, in fact my history with electronic music goes back to the early 80’s when I was among the first composers to have and use a Synclavier for sample based recording. The BKS album ‘For Those About To Rave’, in the mid-90s was programmed and recorded on the Synclavier. I thought it would be interesting to see what Robbie could do with my material.

And as for Robbie’s credentials, well, he’s remixed under the dba name for the likes of Chicane, Ferry Corsten and Love Inc. (which was another coincidence as Love Inc. was Chris Sheppard and Simone Denny, who I’d worked with in the BKS days) while also working as co-writer and producer for Howard Jones, Sugababes and others. And he brings a super high standard of production as well as creating mixes that have all the correct drops & builds that DJ’s need to get the crowd onboard. It’s all about emotion & hooks!

The end result is a track that I love. I’m hoping it opens up my music to a whole new group of people and broadens the musical taste of my long time fans. The remix is available on iTunes and Beatport and there’s a preview on my website – hope you all enjoy it!