DANIEL HAAKSMAN

06/10/2025

Episode #13 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is my album „With Love, From Berlin“, which was released in 2019.

After years of working with artists from abroad, particularly Brasil, I decided to look into my own city of Berlin for Non-German talent. Earlier I had noticed that in the 2010s, more and more people from around the world had moved to Berlin, it wouldn´t just be US or UK expats, but people from Portugal, Peru, Mexico amongst others, that were all acting in the local music scene or had international careers, but operating out of Berlin. So I kicked off a Berlin artist only album which resulted in „With Love, From Berlin“ conceived as ten musical postcards from the German capitol that would reflect on the city more and more becoming an international place .

For my album, I chose to work with then new Berliner whose music I had admired for years.
Oue collabo resulted in „Corpo / Sujeito“, which later was famously remixed by then hardly know Kelman Duran.

Another hit single from the album was „La Añoranza“ for which I asked the then only locally known DJ to sing. In one our first session, Coco Maria asked me and my co-producer Jamie Anderson to leave the studio - she was too shy to sing in front of people! Additionally, Balkan Beat Box wind master and temporary Berliner, , contributed a stunning flute lick and Felipe of added some keyboard wizzardy which rounded up the tune perfectly. All in all, we created a Latin pop tune which has been streamed more than 1.2 million times since its release.

Other collabos in the album featured + .zia, + She´s Drunk, œ and Tikiman aka Paul St. Hilaire.

09/09/2025

I was just live on HÖR

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04/09/2025

Eposide #12 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is my version of „Porque Te Vas“ ft. . It came out exactly five years ago, during the peak of the Covid pandemic in August 2020, and a little bit more than one and a half years after the release of the underground hit single “La Añoranza”, the first collaboration I made with Coco Maria, Dengue Dengue Dengue and Ori Kaplan.

Building on the underground success of “La Añoranza” (+1M streams on Spotify), I asked Coco Maria for a new vocal contribution to one of my personal all time favourite songs, the 1978 classic “Por Que Te Vas” (Spanish for “Because you are leaving“), originally sung by Jeanette. A romantic ballad, it deals with the pain of parting. Its lyrics speak of a loss, of an abandonment and have been described as conveying a sense of longing. For Coco Maria, the song also reflected on her relocation from Berlin to Amsterdam in 2020 and her initial longing to Berlin. Through Coco Maria ́s subtle voice and my trance-synths carried arrangement and dembow groove, the new version gave the classic a fresh, 21st century update. Fast forward to 2025 and Coco Maria has become a much in demand selectora that travels the world with her record box, spinning rare Latin records.



1. „Porque Te Vas“ 2025, model: Tomer

2. „Porque Te Vas“ music video

3. Coco Maria + me in the studio, 2020

4. Coco Maria + me 2025

29/08/2025

Remember? In 2019, I released my track "La Añoranza" ft. Coco Maria, Dengue Dengue Dengue and Ori Kaplan. The tune became a small underground hit and was streamed more than 1M times on Spotify ever since. The inescapable flute on "La Añoranza" was provided the master of wind instruments, Ori Kaplan

Six years later, Ori - who by the way is one third of Balkan Beat Box - asked me to remix one of the tracks of his superb "33 Degrees" EPs, which trace a path across continents and soundscapes.

The two EPs are a tight ride through dusty horns, twisted jazz lines, and Middle Eastern heat. It’s music that is raw, rhythmic, and full of soul. Like a late-night jam session between Mulatu and the Mediterranean. It´s ancient music, rewired.

There´s two other great remixes on this EP, one by my old Frankfurt companeiro Shantel and London´s Dj Raff

Check out the EP on Greedy for Best Music and stream it from all major platforms, or grab it from Bandcamp.

https://bfan.link/33-degrees-west

19/08/2025

#11 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is my album „African Fabrics“ from 2016.

While travelling to Southern Africa, namely Angola, Moçambique and South Africa, as well as Nigeria for workshops between 2012-2015 I heard incredibly new local sounds on my journeys. When in Luanda in 2012 and 2013 I was witnessing first hand the emergence of post kwaito afro house from South Africa pouring into Angola which led to the emergence of the new hybrid ku house, mixing up kuduro with afro house. When in Lagos, I heard the first afrobeats tracks. And on a trip to Maputo, I went to a pandza dance party which blew my mind. Of course, these new sounds emerging from across Africa had an effect to what I was Djing and inspired me to create „African Fabrics“, my artistic response to what was happening at that time across Africa. During this time, I also became more aware of colonial history and particularly German colonial history, thus creating the track and video „Rename The Streets“, inspired by taking part on a „Postkolonialer Spaziergang“ (postcolonial walk) through the Afrikanische Viertel in Berlin, where streets names were still called after German colonial thugs.

I called the album „African Fabrics“ as I had learned that the African wax prints often thought of being „authentic African“, were in fact a product of globalisation and an invention by Dutch merchants who appropriated the technique of wax printing in Indonesia and then imported their wax prints to the West African coast. The title seemed approriate to me as it embodied the non local, globe spanning, cross pollination music approach I had been cultivating for years as an artist and label head. The artwork for the album and the singles was provided by my old friend , who disguised his trademark „razzle dazzle“ designs as African wax prints.

1. Kim + Emily holding African Fabrics cover in Berlin, August 2025

2. „Sabado“ ft. video excerpt

3. „Rename The Streets“ video excerpt

4. „Akabongi“ ft.
+ video excerpt

5. „Xinguila“ ft. video excerpt

Watch all videos in full length on the Man Recordings Youtube channel!

15/08/2025

Playing tomorrow a rare DJ gig at , catch me on the Mirage stage!

08/08/2025

Hi

01/08/2025

Episode #10 in the 20 Years Of Man Recordings series is MC Tha´s „Bonde Da Pantera“

First released in 2017 on the „Baile Saboroso“ EP by the temporary transatlantic team up of boss producers (BR) and (FR), „Bonde Da Pantera“ ft. soon became a radio and streaming hit as it brought baile funk to the lounge floor. During this period, a new genre named „baile chill“ had emerged on the internet, particuarly on Soundcloud, and „Bonde Da Pantera“ was the most elaborated tune in the chill version of funk with a romantic, yet not cheesy flavour.

„Bonde Da Pantera“´s sweet marimba chords and vocal chops were giving the track a late summery vibe ideal to listen to while enjoying a last agua de coco on the beach or making love on a water bed. The song featured the sensual and sassy lyrics of then upcoming São Paulo vocalist MC Tha, who today is considered one of the major female voices in contemporary Brazilian music. Just last week, Tha released a collaboration with fellow Man Recordings alumni and



1. Bonde Da Pantera in Rio, January 2025

2. Music video for „Bonde Da Pantera“

3. Mulú + King Doudou

25/07/2025

Episode #9 in the 20 Years of Man Recordings series is Banda Westfalica´s „Versions“ release from 2013.

Banda Westfalica was a nine piece student percussion ensemble from a music school in the German city of Bünde, in the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia (hence „Banda Westfalica“). The students, then aged 13 to 18, came together to learn to play percussion instruments such as marimba, bongos, cajón, cowbell and cachichi.

When asked by their teacher for song suggestions, the students started to rehearse the Man Recordings released „Carimbo“ by Schlachthofbronx, suggested by then 15 year old student Sönke Oberschmidt. A cel phone video of a street performance by the group of „Carimbo“ was put on Youtube and then landed in my inbox.

I was enthusiastic about the acoustic interpretation of the bass tune by the Munich duo. A few weeks later, together with my brother Felix, we drove to Bünde to record the group´s acoustic interpretation of six classic songs of the Man Recordings label catalogue. The result is the „Versions“ EP which included covers of tracks by , Beware + Motorpitch, , and myself amongst other.

Sönke, today living in Berlin now releases piping hot bass music under the moniker .vital . The EP was also released in vinyl format, in a super limited edition of 100 copies and today is much sought after.

1. Banda Westfalica, 2025, model:

2. Making Of Video

3. So Vital, aged 15, 2013

19/07/2025

Episode #8 in the series is by from Hamburg, featuring Cuba´s .

So Shifty were from Hamburg, Germany and were long time associates of my label . After all, in the 2000s and 2010s there was no other German label specialised in tropical bass music, so the circle of artists and producers from Germany releasing music with a more global approach was very small, and eventually paths for all would cross on Man Recordings. Coming from a Jamaican music background, reggae and dancehall being a strong sound in Hamburg, So Shifty soon moved into other musical territories. First steps included their remixes for Beware+Motorpitch ́s „El Toro“ as well as their remix of El Dusty ́s 3ball rave hit „K Le Pasa“. In 2012, So Shifty teamed up with Cuban outfit Madera Limpia to release the dembow inspired „Rumba“ track on my label, which made waves across the tropical bass scene.

Soon after, So Shifty moved to produce and remix for top-name JA artists such as Busy Signal, I-Octane, Chan Dizzy, Popcaan, Shal Marshall and others. One half of So Shifty was Mecki, (a.k.a. Philip Meckseper). After releasing reggae mashups of famous pop tunes under the moniker Jr. Blender, in 2015 he became involved in co-producing Major Lazer’s mega hit “Lean On” featuring MØ. This was followed by further collaborations like “Light It Up” and “Boom,” among others.Having established himself as a major pop producer he has since been involved in co-producing songs by artists such as Dua Lipa, P!nk, or Stargate.



1.„Rumba“ in Berlin, 2025
2. So Shifty
3. Madera Limpia

14/07/2025

Episode #7 in the series is the „Ayoba“ EP by Munich based

Released in 2010, the „Ayoba“ EP introduced the hyper-energetic bass sound by Schlachthofbronx. Consisting of two young Bavarians called Bene + Jakob, their sound was a hotpotch nurturing from Jamaican dancehall, Angolan kuduro, Trinidad carnival sounds, baile funk, Dirty South Balkan beats and rave music all at once. The „Bronx“ sound from Munich was magic and ripped through global bass dancefloors internationally.

At a time, when South Africa wasn´t yet on the global club map (despite kwaito already making waves), Schlachthofbronx teamed up with the South African glam rap prince from Soweto, , with whom Schlachthofbronx had collaborated on various tracks on their earlier debut album. The icing on the cake was the contribution by Bosnian-Swedish rapper .gnucci.rab aka Gnucci Banana, making „Ayoba“ (South African youth slang meaning „cool“) a staple in global bass music for years. Other tracks on the EP feature the - still up to date baile funk tracks - „Vem Que Tem“ feat. MC Marina, as well as „Sai Safarda“ („Watch Out, you little bastard“) feat. MC Leka. Up until today, their band name refering to Munich city quarter „Schlachthofviertel“ („Slaughterhouse neigbourhood“), has been a a tongue twister for any foreign, non-German speaker.

1.“Ayoba“ in Berlin, 2025

2. Music video for „Ayoba“ ft. Spoek Mathambo + Gnucci Banana

3. Schlachthofbronx live on stage at Popkomm Cologne, DE, 2010

17/04/2025

Brasilian vinyl forever!