Among the very first independent labels in Romania, Rebel Music was for many years the home of leading artists and great projects, beautiful media campaigns and noble public fights, sold-out concerts and impressive graphics - both musical and social front-line, a true back-up of the first free generation of the public, right after the communist era. Even before becoming a production company but pe
rpetually on the agenda, Rebel Music helped build and then maintain a scene both behind and in front of the stage. It was active for 15 years between 1993-2008 and had experimented a lot as a label but it mainly promoted, produced and managed artists and events from the urban music: hip hop, rock, reggae, metal, electro and lounge music, occasionally also from jazz, world, dance or blues.
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The concept of REBEL MUSIC was born in 1993 in Bacau - Romania, inspired by the underground metal & reggae scene from Vienna - Austria between 1990-92 and especially the work of famous Dj Kodak, whom big fan I was at that time while living there. Back home, the idea of an organized long-term project related to music was more than romantic and juvenile, it was necessary, so the first years I was mainly dj-ing and setting up parties, most of them the first in the city, pioneering and learning things, together with some close friends.
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Then, in late 1995, I teamed up with Grishu to re-open legendary TARGET UNDERGROUND CLUB in hometown Bacau and we started making history. First time ever, live acts with future superstars as Parazitii, BUG Mafia, Suie Paparude, DJ Vasile, La Familia, Grasu XXL as well as Il-Egal, Ura De D**a Usa, God a.o. Also there, unforgettable cult-parties with extraordinary vibes and fantastic music - rock, rap, tekno, metal, pop, punk, ragga, grunge, industrial, house, rave, drum'n'bass, hardcore and everything else that we were into.
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Meanwhile ('93-'98), local radio stations in town were airing my REBEL RADIO, a weekly 3-6 hrs program about the national underground music scene, who got different names in the beginning but started as the second national hip-hop radio show in the summer of 1993 on Radio Alfa Bacau 89,6FM. I was attending as many possible concerts, festivals and music events every year, in Romania and abroad, both as a fan or journalist, and I was taking hundreds of interviews to a wide range of artists that I was later publishing or broadcasting on radio or tv, from Bacau to Vienna.
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By 1998 an upgrade was mandatory so I put an end to all the radio-tv-press activity, moved to Arad and teamed up with Parazitii as manager and later as a producer, a colabo that succesfully lasted for 7 years, milestoning the romanian rap industry and the beginning of a long list of artists. Big parties continued in TUB, famous underground club in Arad (2000-2002) where I was dj-ing.
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We emerged nationally as a label in 1999 on the cover of the timeless masterpiece "Nici o problema" of Parazitii but we really started to pile up since 2001 once I finally moved to Bucharest and launched the first campaign, upgrading again the business part. The raptivism of the artists and our well-respected rebel brand got a lot of mass-attention and made a hardcore point in the romanian music industry in the following years. Hundreds of projects, artists, concerts, bands, festivals and tours followed so by the time we finally took a break in 2008, we were pretty proud of the looking-back feeling, in all departments: management, production, booking, promo, distribution, publishing, friends etc (see Artists, Bands and Projects in the header)
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Rebel Music was never only about music. We have also been involved in many social or environmental campaigns, most of them self-produced, like JOS CENZURA (Down The Censorship) - a mediablast censorship protest featuring freedom-superstar LARRY FLYNT and rap-heroes Parazitii (2004), ANTI-PLAYBACK - a sarcastic legendary video and deadserious public campaign (2001), SAVE ROSIA MONTANA (2004) - we created the FANFEST and produced the festival in its first 2 years, MERITA O VIATA 2006 - R.I.P. Liliana, SAVE THE VINYL (most records on vinyl for a label in Romania), CUMPARATI ORIGINALUL 2002, a.m.o.
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Never counting but mattering platinum and golden discs, festivals and tours, 24/7 studio-sessions and awards - including a winning at 2004 MTV Europe Awards for Best Romanian Act - but the real achievement over those years is the army of supporters and friends! We may have been blessed sometimes with big comercial succes but we have always stayed true to the spirit of the music and not the industry, everytime, everything, everywhere, everybody. Thank you!
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Nowadays, we are heading fringe - the free arts - planning and doing things, music and events for people to express themselves, mostly abroad again. One day we shall be back home. Deserve yourself !
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Kerosen
2010
