Creating the SunArt 2016 Anthem and Performing Across Three Festival Projects
From July 15 to 17, the fourth annual SunArt festival brought music, art and water sports to the Bugaz Spit near Veselovka on Russia’s Black Sea coast.
The festival combines live music and DJ performances with kitesurfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, exhibitions and more than 30 creative workshops. Its 2016 program includes musicians from Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Moscow, Sochi and other cities, as well as more than ten DJs. The scale and format of the event were covered by Komsomolskaya Pravda — Kuban.
My work for SunArt begins before the festival itself: I join Jeyma and Rayn Beats to create its official anthem.
Creating the Festival Anthem
Jeyma, Rayn Beats and I develop “SUNART Anthem” together, with Jeyma recording its lead vocal. The released title also credits ShaBrothersDJs as featured participants.
None of us now separates the production into individual tasks: the track is the result of a shared studio process. What matters is that the finished anthem becomes an active part of the event rather than simply carrying its name.
SunArt uses the track in its promotional campaign before the festival and plays it across the festival grounds during the event. It gives the 2016 edition its own recognizable musical theme, connecting the advertising, location and live program through the same sound.
The official SunArt festival page presents the anthem under the names Jeyma, Nevelskiy and Rayn Beats.
Sorry4 & Jeyma on the Main Stage
My first appearance in the festival lineup is with Sorry4, the EDM and trap project I created with Rayn Beats.
Sorry4 is built around original productions, remixes and bootlegs designed for radio, clubs and large sound systems. The project is also behind the “Welcome to the Future” radio show for 107.7 FM Krasnodar.
For SunArt, Jeyma joins us on the main stage, bringing a live vocal element into the electronic set. Two recordings from the performance remain online: “#burtontimsong” and our live interpretation of Diplo’s “Revolution”.
Stellar Pride on the Solaris Stage
The following day, I return to the Solaris stage with Stellar Pride, my electronic live project with Jeyma and saxophonist Yuri Krasilnikov.
Stellar Pride brings together deep house, UK garage, jazz and soulful music. I am responsible for electronic production and DJ performance, while Jeyma’s vocals and Yuri’s saxophone allow us to move beyond a conventional DJ set and develop the arrangements live.
The project occupies a different place in the SunArt program from Sorry4. Sorry4 is direct, rhythm-heavy and designed around festival energy; Stellar Pride leaves more space for voice, live instrumentation and improvisation.
Reuniting with Veliar
Later that night, I play another set on the Solaris stage with Veliar, the performance name used here by Igor Maksimenko, also known as M.I.P.
Igor and I have worked together for years as F.I.69, releasing bass music internationally and performing across the region. Our SunArt set reconnects that long-running partnership in a separate DJ format.
The official lineup therefore places me in three distinct performances during the festival:
Sorry4 & Jeyma on the main stage;
Stellar Pride on the Solaris stage;
Nevelskiy & Veliar on the Solaris stage.
Together with the festival anthem, these appearances represent four separate contributions to SunArt 2016. They show different parts of my work at the time: original music created for an event, EDM and trap with Sorry4, electronic live music with Stellar Pride, and a DJ set rooted in my earlier collaboration with M.I.P.
SunArt allows all of those directions to exist within one festival without collapsing them into a single sound.
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