DJ Yoda
July 16, 10pm, Volar
Duncan Beiny - better known as DJ Yoda - pioneered the art form known as DVDJing. He mixes images plucked from television, cinema and YouTube over his sets, plundering DVDs for visual 'beats' just as he mines CDs for aural ones. The result - projected onto a screen behind him as he plays - looks like the British DJ's ingenious 2008 cut-up of the Champions League highlights for Britain's ITV.
During the 104-second video, hosted on DJ Yoda's MySpace page, Beiny splices sports commentary, players' soundbites and fans' cheers over a simple scratch set, in effect turning the vox pops into musical instruments. Beiny obviously has a sense of humour: in this age of celebrity DJs, here is a turntablist who's in it for a laugh as well as the music.
Beiny staged his audiovisual coup by re-scoring teen flicks The Goonies and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He took the cut-up films on the British music festival circuit in 2003 and 2004, establishing a performance style that fast became a trademark.
His subsequent 'DJ Yoda Goes to the Movies' and 'Magic Cinema Show' tours - both fusions of clubbing and a trip to the cinema - sold to packed houses. Beiny's current tour, the Asian Video Vacation, takes him through Hong Kong on July 16, when he'll play at Volar.
Beiny might be the only man ever to have won both an Independent Music Award for a contemporary classical album (for last year's audacious Heritage Orchestra feat. DJ Yoda's G. Prokofiev Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra), and critical acclaim for a FabricLive mix. The compilation, the 39th in a series from the London club, sweeps the listener from alternative rock to calypso through a musical rainbow of hip hop, house, funk and a cheeky bit of swing.
DJ Yoda is one of Q magazine's 10 DJs to see before you die. We're not going to wait that long.
38-44 D'Aguilar St, Lan Kwai Fong, free for members, HK$300 non-members. Inquiries: 2810 1276
