The island boy – even in his young years, Bodea has seen a lot. Born and raised at the tropical shores of Zanzibar/Tanzania the singer and songwriter embraced the beauty of a simple and natural lifestyle in the very first place. Not only causing a deep and lasting desire for this human Utopia but also making him inherit the specific aura of that little charming island.

Leaving the mangos and coconuts behind he started his boyhood world tour at the age of five: first from Yemen to Islamabad/Pakistan where he started taking classical music lessons and therefore set the fundament for his present skills. Next stop: Beijing/China. In his early teenager years Bodea began to teach himself the guitar in the capital of the „Middle Kingdom“, wrote his first lyrics and started rapping. To finish High-School he made it to Germany, where he founded his first band and initiated performing his songs. From tanzanian easy living to german accuracy – he made his way!

After studying Jazz Performance and Composition at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, USA, he moved to Berlin, Germany. Bodea‘s debut album is in its last stages as he’s putting together a live band. With his style between Soul, Reggae, Tropical and Dancehall the charming island boy has a bright future to come.

Light years ahead of time and 3.800 miles from the birth-country of hip hop, Croup works in his lab in Cologne, Germany and turns sound into gold. Croup makes the most incredbile beats for both German and U.S. artists. His unique and distinct style already gave him global exposure, working with arists such as Curse, Patrice, Supastition, Emilio Rojas, Mr.Mecca and many more.

As a youngster Croup started with both keyboards and drum lessons and played in various bands. Inspired by such producers as The RZA, Madlib, DJ Hi-Tek and J Dilla, Croup taught himself how to flip a sample and to program the hardest drums ever heard on this planet. One would think that the sound and mixing of his beats are wielded in a high-end studio with the best gear around, but according to Croup, all you need is a little inspiration and some insomia to make the real ill music.

Daniel Haaksman is a Berlin based DJ, producer and music journalist. He runs the label Man Recordings since 2005 and has released the compilations “Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats” which introduced the 21st century sound of Rio De Janeiro to a global audience. On Man Recordings Daniel launched the international careers of artists like Edu K, MC Gringo or Deize Tigrona. In 2008 he released his first EP – “Who’s Afraid Of Rio?” and comissioned the compilation “Bossa Do Morro” – a remix project in which some of the most famours Bossa Nova tunes get remixed by Rio Baile Funk producers and DJs.

Currently Daniel is working on various remixes and has retouched tracks by Waldemar Bastos and Madera Limpia. With his brother Felix he produced various official remixes as “Haaksman+Haaksman” of artists like Gotan Project, Ray Baretto, Shantel, Tosca and many others.

Deize Tigrona is one of Rio de Janeiro’s top female Mcs, notorious for her ability to both sing the subtlest jazz tunes as well as the most lust dripping slack lyrics. As a resident of the infamous Rio community, Deize Tigronas MC skills were forged in the fires of hundreds of funk balls all across Rio over the years.

Already a collaboration-choice for producers like Diplo, Edu K or Buraka Som Sistema, Deize was a first pick for Berlin based producer Jesse Rose on his contribution for the Funk Mundial series on Man Recordings. When stopping by in Berlin on Deize’s European summer tour 2008 she wrote “Toca Pra Mim” (“Play It For Me”) exclusively for Highscore Publishing.

Dj Sandrinho is one of Rio’s brightest young producers. Long time DJ of Mr. Catra, Sandrinho’s skills as a producer were wielded in many many baile funk parties over the years. From Rio to Stockholm, from Paris to Berlin to São Paulo: This 27 year old from the favela of Borel has rocked many parties around the world. Recently, he produced remixes for Gotan Project, Edu K and M.I.A., and his tracks have been included in many compilations like “Favela Chic“ or “Rio Baile Funk More Favela Booty Beats”.

Edu K is undoubtedly one of Brazil’s most talented contemporary musicians. From the late Eighties onwards, Edu K has been the singer and front man of seminal Brazilian punk band De Falla.

In 2006 Edu K presented his musical effort, the highly acclaimed “Frenétiko” album on Man Recordings. It was the next level of Edu K’s musical vision in fusing a multitude of highly energetic musical styles into a big new sound. Edu K’s “Frenétiko” album is Brazil’s new millenium answer to the post local, post genre musical era we live in. It’s a high energy mash up of kick ass music that is fresh and unique.

Since the album release Edu K released various singles on Man Recordings containing contributions remixes by Solid Groove, Deize Tigrona, Sinden, Marina (formerly Bonde Do Role) and Crookers to name but a few. In 2007 his single “Gatas Gatas Gatas” was released as an accompanying release to the worldwide advertising campaign for the new Sony Ericsson mobile phone W910.

Felix is a composer, producer and music consultant. Between 2003 and 2005 he released various EPs with his project Dutch Rhythm Combo on Pulver Records. Conceived as an imaginary band, the sound of the Dutch Rhythm Combo can’t be precisely categorized. One can roughly locate it in a sound spectrum that spans genres like dub, disco, funk or tropical which get freshly flavoured with an acoustic twist.

The Dutch Rhythm Combo’s second release, the legendary “Antilles EP”, was released in 2004, followed by the “Venom EP” in 2005 featuring the guest voice Joe Dukie from New Zealand’s hot reggae-soul outfit Fat Freddys Drop. In 2007 he released the highly acclaimed Bonaire remix series on Highscore Publishing.

In 2008 Dutch Rhythm Combo’s returned with a stunning imaginary musical journey to the caribbean islands: “Sounds Of The Caribbean”. The follow up “Sounds Of The Carribean Remixed” featured remixes by Ray Mang and Dubben.

“The Imaginary Band” is the long awaited debut album of Dutch Rhythm Combo’s and is released on April 19 2010.

Fernando Lagreca was born at Montevideo, Uruguay and is nowadays residing in Barcelona, Spain. Fernando has a penchant for the latest electronic music tendencies such as clicks & cuts, microhouse, techno and he is particularly interested in ambient music which he mixes up with glitchs and oscilations. He has released three albums in
the electronic/folk german label Autoplate and he is currently promote his music through his own label in Barcelona, called Greknoise recordings.

His style is combining pop melódico with guitars and vocoders as well as electronic in-noise frequencies, radio cuts, loops and another kind of generated noise with sounds of our daily environment, showing the most experimental side of the artist.

Joshua Harvey aka Herve is a producer, song writer and DJ. He has released various 12“s on the label Dubsided, collaborates with Trevor Loveys under the moniker Speakerjunk, releases mellow music as Young Lovers and remixed The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Roisin Murphy and Bloc Party to much acclaim.

For Tamborzuda he teamed up with Sinden and fused speed garage beats – London’s late 90s dominating floor shaking groove – with the alchemy and rave melodies of Rio Baile Funk, spiced with the rhyme skills of Rio MC Thiaguinho.

Isa GT from Colombia has been living in London for the last few years djing, singing, producing music, putting on parties and writing her own lyrics.

Isa GT defines her style as a Mash up of lots of different rhythms. She has been influenced by genres as different from each other like Techno, House, Minimal, Baile Funk, Hip Hop, Tango, Salsa, Punk, Rock and many more. Being a member of London based Girlcore, Isa know how to throw a party.

In 2010 she released the “Pa Chikirri EP” on Man Recordings with two new songs and remixes by Crookers, Daniel Haaksman and Joao Brasil.

On her first collaboration with Stereotyp and Edu K, Joyce turned heads the world over. With her seductive, yet airy voice, Joyce Muniz rode the ruff beats of Viennas riddim-meister like a vocal pro, excellently contrasting the Brazilian MC heavyweight Edu K. The recent vocal contributions to the KU BO project added the picture of Joyce Muniz as an outstanding MC and singer.

Born in 1983 in Sao Paulo, Joyce Muniz landed in Vienna in the mid Nineties. Having roots in rock and hip hop Joyce soon connected with the vibrant Viennese electronic music scene.

This Vienna based Brazilian lady is one to watch.

Stereotyp released the first volume in the “Funk Mundial” vinyl series, released on Man Recordings in 2006. KU BO is the exciting new project by Vienna based Stereotyp. Known for his passion for Brazlian music and Afro beats as well as European club and bass culture, KU BO mixes the best of both worlds. Dark and sexy, with gutter drenching basslines, KU BO is the club oriented, voodooesque side of Stereotyp. Album coming summer 2010.

Maximilian Skiba is a talented producer from Poland. His music being inspired by whole 70’s and 80’s era is a mixture of electro-disco-house with a touch of funk. Maximilian’s first EP “Rendez Vous over Mars” has landed in the legendary CBS top 100, second ep “Apple of Disco.rd” was fully supported by many big names as Daniel Wang for example.

Maximilian Skiba also produced many remixes for artist like Filippo Moscatello, Ajello, Dutch Rhythm Combo (polish best remix of 2007 by polish national radio “Bis”) and many others. In 2009 his long awaited single on Gomma was released under the moniker “The KDMS”, recorded together with true disco diva Kathy Diamond.

Maximilian Skiba is published by King of Kong and is sub-published by Highscore Publishing.

MC Gringo is the only Non-Brazilian, who has made his way to the top in baile funk scene of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Each weekend, the Stuttgart born German MC, who’s full name is Bernhard Hendrik Hermann Weber Ramos De Lacerda, performs on various baile funk parties all across Rio. Following the fantastic international response to his debut mini lp “Gringão”, MC Gringo released his EP MC “1 REAL – The Stereo MCs Remixes” and his 2nd single “Alemão”.

Munich based Schlachthofbronx stormed the hearts of a global audience with their irresistable, full-on party bangers that nurture from Jamaican Dancehall, Angolan Kuduro, Trinidad carnival sounds, Rio Baile Funk, Dirty South and Balkan beats all at once. Call it the trans world rave beat hotpotch, all mixed up in a hyper energetic, maximal dancefloor sound. After their critically acclaimed album on Disko B and extensive touring through Europe, the “Bronx Guys” returned with another slammin’ release – the “Ayoba EP” on Man Recordings.

Andreas Schoenrock is a Berlin based producer, music lover and DJ. The multi instrumentalist and academically trained mastering engineer had various releases on labels such as Pulver Records, Eighttrack Recordings and of course Highscore Publishing. For his last EP “Sacode A Poeira” Schoenrock showed his love affair with dubby disco, funk, hip hop and latin music.

Graeme Sinden is a unique DJ and producer who has revitalised the club scene, staying one step ahead as musical boundaries become ever blurred. Sinden began making music around the time he forged a friendship with Dave “Switch” Taylor and was taken under his wing to learn the production game. Together they began to create progressive hip-hop, dancehall beats and other unclassifiable rhythms.

His production technique has further evolved in his collaboration with Joshua Harvey, aka The Count (aka Herve), on their project The Count & Sinden. Their single “Beeper” was a crossover club smash which built on the success of early release Tamborzuda.

The eclectic legacy of Jamaican music has continued to create a wide variety of new musical impulses over the last five decades. Whether Ska, Reggae, Dub or Dancehall – the small Caribbean island has continually produced entirely new genres of music that reflect the struggles, successes and great ingenuity of its people. Inspired by new production technologies and cultural shifts, Jamaican music never ceases to bear new fruits.

With their self entitled debut album, The Unlimiters have taken up this tradition with the aim of forging new paths. The eight-piece set from Berlin is largely inspired by early Ska, a style of music created at the beginning of the 1960s when Calypso merged with Jazz and Rhythm n Blues to form a unique and home-grown Jamaican sound that is still exemplified by unforgettable artists such as The Skatalites and Prince Buster.

The Unlimiters… eight people, eight-and-a-half instruments – teamed up in Berlin’s underground to unleash their smart and bouncing beats and harmonies to the dancefloor – probably right in your neighborhood, so watch out!