Knowledge of the Hidden: José Manuel Interview

Italian DJ and producer José Manuel tells the story behind Janara, his astonishing LP of ritualistic electronics for Optimo Music

First there is darkness. We are huddled together waiting for sounds to move to, perhaps anticipating some form of enlightenment. Then there is the music. Beamed in from the disco frontier; deep and rich and dark, a tapestry of outernational electronic fusion. Threads from the past unspool in the moment; voices of those who went before bleed through while the movement of those around us amplify the now. The dancefloor (whether real or imagined – in its literal absence it must be but a state of mind) as cave, as temple, as conduit to the infinite.

José Manuel’s Janara LP feels as if it has been conjured into being, a ritualistic work perfectly suited for these times and beyond, something to get lost in for a spell. For this is indeed a magickal record and makes much use of incantation, with its chants and percussion storing transformative power across eight tracks. Listening becomes akin to slipping on a mask and taking part in ancient ceremonies with the album’s namesakes, witches of Italian folklore. In other words, acid house as pagan ritual.

I donned my ceremonial robes and spoke with José about the then and now of Janara.

Please introduce yourself.

Hi, I’m José Manuel, I’m an Italian DJ and producer but I’ve been living in Berlin for various years. I really love vinyl and I’m always on the lookout for musical rarities and obscure gems. I started being a DJ when I was a teenager. I used to play clubs in my area and then I also had the possibility to play in Turin, which is the provincial capital of my region. Then, I started making music. My first single was released fifteen years ago. At the time Eskimo Recordings was very relevant and in the spotlight for the releases of their two diamonds Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. For this reason, the fact that one of my works was released by this label was an honour for me. From that point on, I continued to collaborate with other labels, which released other works of mine, such as Tusk Wax, Kill the DJ, Music from Dreams, Optimo.

Are you in Berlin at the moment? What’s it like there with everything going on?

Yes, I’m in Berlin now. The situation is still critical. We are all in lockdown in Germany. The bright side is that I have much time for making music.

How positive are you feeling about clubs reopening? What do you think will be the long term implications for club culture?

Well, I hope that all the population get vaccinated as soon as possible and that we can get back to normal by the end of the year. In this way clubs can reopen and the entire music industry can restart, since it has been at a standstill for a long time. I want to be confident on that.  

Is there any particular music that has provided solace for you during the past year?

Last year there was a reduction of releases because of the pandemic, for this reason there was not a lot of enthusiastic club music for my musical taste. However, I had the opportunity to listen and appreciate works that are related to the contemporary scene and leftfield such as Eartheater, Drew McDowall, Hania Rani and Emile Mosseri.

Your work is, in the best possible way, not easy to categorise. How would you describe your music?

Exactly, all the works I make are difficult to categorise in a specific musical genre. There are a lot of contaminations and musical influences such as world and folk music combined with the electronic one.

Who do you view as your contemporaries? Someone like Nicola Cruz springs to mind.

Yes, Nicola Cruz is a producer I really like, but there are also others such as Dazion and my compatriots Tamburi Neri. Among other things, one of the components of this last duo I mentioned, Claudio Brioski, has mixed my album Janara.

Do you have any music making rituals?

I don’t have a specific ritual when I make music. Of course, I must be serene and inspired; otherwise, I just waste time. Also, over time, I’m becoming more demanding with myself during the search for the right musical elements.

Janara certainly feels like ritualistic music. Was this intentional?

Absolutely yes, Janara’s tracks reflect the rituality I always try to insert in my music as a producer and in my set as a DJ.

How do you hope listeners respond to the LP?

Janara, compared to my previous works, is surely not a simple album with an immediate effect. For this reason, I hope that the listeners dedicate more time in comprehending and analysing it.

The album sounds of the moment, but with roots in the deep past, like folk music of the late technological age. I understand that your starting point was exploring the tammorra, a traditional instrument of the Campania region. Could you talk about what the instrument means to you and how it inspired the album?

The starting point of this album was the depth on the folkloristic scene of the South Italy and on the traditional dances such as the ‘pizzica salentina’ and the ‘tammurriata’. These two dances, which have a particular rhythm by the fact that they are performed with a tambourine and a tammorra, are related to esoteric beliefs. For this reason, I wanted to analyse this hypnotic sound of the tammorra trying to make it modern with electronic sounds.

As well as the instrument itself, I believe there are folk tales behind Janara. Could you tell me about these?

In addition to having used the tammorra in different tracks of Janara, I also wanted to analyse one of the legendary figures of Campania, the so called ‘Janare’. They were witches of the rural tradition of Benevento. They had knowledge of the hidden and tormented the inhabitants of that area. Starting with this legend, I wrote some lyrics about the Janara with some of my Neapolitan friends who helped me during the process of writing in dialect. Having only the tammorra was not enough for me, I really had the necessity of having some vocal parts that could go through the story of these witches.

Folk music should remain alive in the present rather than dead in the past, right?

Yes, I total agree with you. I think that it is necessary to find the right way to make folk actual, in order to render it more accessible to everyone.

Were the tracks on Janara made with both home listening and clubbing in mind? Is there even a distinction when putting an LP together?

The album represents the body and the soul, therefore there are some tracks that could be played in clubs and some tracks that could be listened to while doing yoga. Anyway, considering the fact that it is a mini album, I wanted some different musical expressions. If the album was an EP of 3/4 tracks I would have tried most probably to redirect it to the club scene.

The open-eared musical policy of Optimo Music makes it the perfect home for Janara. I know you’ve released an EP with them before, but how did your relationship with the label begin? Did you have Optimo Music in mind when making the album?

Optimo Music is among the labels I prefer because it represents my musical style. Their releases are never predictable and trivial. Therefore, when I finish my works, I always send them first to Optimo Music, no matter if there will be a release or not. Having their opinion is important for me.

The fourth world explorations of recent archival release La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient & Acid Exoticsm 1983-1990 (Bongo Joe) are perhaps of some relevance here. It’s fascinating how many relatively undocumented scenes/artists continue to be unearthed and I wonder how important these sorts of reissues are to you? Do you find much inspiration in music from the past?

The musical research and the reissue of rarities of the past are for me very important; not by chance I’m also a vinyl collector. I don’t know if you are aware of the fact that I have a small label that deals with reissues. Its name is Harmonie Exotic and two years ago I released Magic Carpet: Contemporary Music 1982-1994, a compilation with rare obscure magic tracks, very similar to La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient & Acid Exoticism 1983-1990. So, I love listening and comparing tracks.

Are people generally more open to global sounds these days?

Yes, I think that people have been more open to global sounds in the last few years. Maybe thanks to different producers who contaminate their works with world music influences. Nicola Cruz and Dengue Dengue Dengue for example.  

Any hopes and even plans for the coming months?

I’m working on new tracks hoping that the recording industry gets back to normal.

Janara by José Manuel is available on LP and digital

Optimo Music Bandcamp