Alex Baboo

Thanks to MTV and its network clones around the globe, you don't listen to music any more, you watch it. And so, at Alex Baboo's own music studio - a small apartment in Jordan packed with recording equipment, editing machines, posters of musicians and a collection of Japanese toy action-figures - he doesn't simply play a disc of his latest track, he slides in a VCD to watch on his flat-screen computer.

Within seconds, I'm transfixed by the sounds of Bells Of Tiananmen, a single released this week by EMI on the clumsily named compilation album Pop Goes To Dance - MTV Nonstop Hits, which is being distributed in 12 countries around Asia. Shot in Beijing 'with a small, small budget' over five weeks, it has the polished finish of a big, big budget product. 'You really think so?' he grins and looks genuinely perplexed. 'We shot as much as we could as soon as we could and then, as you can see, the last few scenes were shot right here in the studio!'

Better known as Jamaster A, his pseudonym appears on the back jacket of innumerable albums, with the cover faces of Sandy Lam, Andy Lau Tak-wah, Alex To Tak-wai, bands such as Grasshopper and so on. If you've seen a CD with the title Ultra Mix, Ultra Hits, Ultra Dance Party, ultra anything, chances are, the Jamaster's behind it.

As an album producer and remixer, he's worked behind the music for years. 'I started as a DJ back in 1972. Word got around about the way I mix and match, and music companies approached me to work on remix albums with well-known artists around Asia,' Baboo says.

'I've worked with everyone, I think, like Namie Amuro, Tetsuya Komuro and many local artists ... Well, I've worked with everyone worth collaborating with,' he smiles. 'I've written songs, produced entire albums. Five years ago, I decided to go independent, do original stuff for artists and building solo tracks, dance tracks.'

His latest creation is a hybrid of traditional Chinese sounds with modern dance beats. 'It's oriental trance, mixing the old with the new. There's classical music on the zheng mixed with house and techno music. When the disc comes out, there will be elements in the track for professional and wannabe DJs who can mix and match and create their own track. This music, with no vocals, no pop stars fronting it, is for the younger crowd, the party scene and especially the underground network that's open to a variety of sounds.'