This weekend, The Mid Summer Ball takes over a brand new stage at the Turkish Cypriot Cultural Festival, taking place in Enfield, North London. Now in its third year, the one-day, family-friendly community event is seeking to broaden its appeal to the younger generation by extending an invite to leading Turkish Cypriot DJs and artists to perform non-Turkish music such as house and garage, soul, funk, bashment and grime.
The stage has been curated by DJs-cum-promoters Hass ‘J Junior’ Rediff and DJ Ramsey, who are the founders of The Mid Summer Ball, first launched in North Cyprus nearly 15 years ago. The iconic club night has brought the cream of British urban dance music to the island, and its line-ups have always included both established and emerging artists, many of them of Turkish Cypriot origin.
A selection of these names will be performing on Sunday. The full line-up: Ramsey & Fen, J Junior, Mr Jones (Café 432), DJ Eren, Mix Master Max, Texsta, Cutting Edge, Easy Ryder, Havva Rebke, Rootz, Nse, Edski, Mc Sel, Skiver, Smoovie T, Durty Tango, and Donweez.
T-VINE interviewed 7 artists on the bill, who feature in our ‘alternative guide to The Mid Summer Ball stage’ below. We not only present their artist credentials, but also other essential details such as which Cyprus village they are from, favourite Turkish dinners and artists, and their claims to fame. Who knew Ibrahim Tatlises was so popular or that there was a Turkish version of garage classic Love Bug?!
DJ Fen
Musical style: Garage, House
Claims to fame: 3 Children
Age: Old
Where do you live now? Monaco
Where in Cyprus is your family from? Lefke
Favourite Cyprus memory? 1988 can’t repeat in public
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Too many to mention, I love all Cypriot food.
Favourite Turkish artist or song? Love Bug sang in Turkish.. Ha Ha…
Mr Jones (Café 432)
Musical style: House & Garage
Claims to fame: Gold, Platinum, and Double Platinum Awarded Mix Engineer for Tinie Tempah’s “Pass Out” and “Frisky” Discovery Album
Age: 48
Where do you live now? Grange Park London
Where in Cyprus is your family from Paphos and Pile
Favourite Cyprus memory? DJing at Mara Monte open air night club
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Anything my Mum makes.
Favourite Turkish artist or song? Has to be Ibrahim Tatlıses: played snooker with him and went to his concert here in the UK many years ago.
Aytach ‘Texsta’ Dervish
Musical style: House Music
Claim to fame: radio & production (hear him weekly on Centreforce)
Age: 49 (turns the big 50 in July)
Where do you live now? Hertfordshire
Where in Cyprus is your family from? Mum is from Lefkoşa, dad is from Iskele in Larnaca
Favourite Cyprus memory? Holiday with wife my wife & daughter: we stayed for 3 months.
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Fırın Makarına [Macaroni in the oven].
Favourite Turkish artist or song? Ibrahim Tatlıses
MC Sel
Musical style: host for UK Garage and house
Claim to fame: 1999 had a Number 1 Garage chart hit called Sweetheart ft myself and Jennifer Okane
Age: 39
Where do you live now? Brentwood
Where in Cyprus is your family from? A village called Serdarlı(aka Catoz)
Favourite Cyprus memory? Spending all my summer holidays staying at the village, collecting karpuz (water melon) and babutsa (prickly pears)
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Molahiya
Favourite Turkish artist or song? ‘Mavi mavi masmavi’ [by Ibrahim Tatlıses]
Durty Tango
Musical style: Open format
Claims to fame: The Mid Summer Bal, and DJing alongside EZ, Heartless crew, Lethal B, Skepta, and Wiley
Age: 30
Where do you live now? Hackney
Where in Cyprus is your family from: Lefkoşa
Favourite Cyprus memory? DJing at Lethal B event
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Magarina Bulli [chicken with macaroni]
Favourite Turkish artist or song? Tarkan
Nev G
Musical style: 90’s R&B, Reggae, Soulful House, Old Skool Club Classics
Claims to fame: In 1994, I did my performing arts B Tec Diploma with Emma Bunton before she rose to fame.
Age: 43
Where do you live now? East London
Where in Cyprus is your family from – dad was from Yedikonuk, mum is from Iskele
Favourite Cyprus memory? Being 18 in Cyprus in 1994 and raving to jungle at Mare Monte with such large and great London crowds!! Inviting everyone back to our room at Jasmine Court and having after-parties!
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Molohiya and bamya
Favourite Turkish artist or song? What’s that? Lol…
Rootz
Musical style: RnB
Claims to fame: Nothing
Age: 20
Where do you live now? East London
Where in Cyprus is your family from? Cinder
Favourite Cyprus memory? Don’t have none
Favourite Turkish/Cypriot dish? Kuru fasulye
Favourite Turkish artist or song? Don’t really have one
Main picture, top (L-R): MC Sel, DJ Celil, Nev G and Edski
