When you think of Douro, you think of a landscape that is a World Heritage Site, you think of wine and in a very particular way of life, but probably you don't think of music. And maybe that explains why Miguel Ramos has the Dance In Douro festival, which had several editions between the late 90’s and the early years of this Millennium, as one of his major influences, a kind of portal to another r
eality that transported him to a more electronic dimension, well away from Peso da Régua, where he was born. His place of origin, however, was never enough to define the world of Miguel Ramos which, now with 29 years, has toured other latitudes: he lived in Vila Real and Albufeira, but also in Switzerland. I want to find out what’s going on beyond the mix tables”, he explains. Coming from a house of artists – his father is a painter, writer and musician, with a life dedicated to teaching, his mother also has an artistic vein and his brother is studying cinema and photography in Lisbon – Miguel Ramos couldn’t help but express himself artistically. He chose, however, a less obvious route: being a DJ. Before becoming Yin Yang, his alter ego while playing music in the most varied spaces, Miguel tried the microphone and was part of the hip hop project Autoconsciência. Djing came after, in 2008. The music his curiosity made him discover on the internet started to be heard in private parties, then in small bars, cultural associations and larger clubs, in an always upward path in terms of public attention. Electronic music – House, Techno, Acid, etc. – dominates his identity as Yin Yang, but that’s not the only “persona” he likes to use. As Samo he likes to explore more analog landscapes, with beats defined by drumsticks, Funk/Disco/Afrobeat – “music for old people”, as he likes to say. And there’s also the alter ego Rock and Roll Ni**er, provocative name subtracted from a Patti Smith classic song, that serves as a frame for him to play electrified music, from Muddy Waters to Connan Mockasin, two of his main references in this field. Nevertheless, Miguel likes to quote much more music when he is asked for a map of his universe: Jeff Mills, James Holden, Theo Parrish or Matthew Johnson are just the tip of an iceberg that conceals many other references as Massive Attack, Portishead or Moby.
