About a month ago, I stumbled across a mix that I couldn’t stop listening to. It was so funky and emotive and quite different from many of the downtempo mixes I have heard in the past. I was so inspired by this artist and his passion to share music and create a community around dancing and celebration that I contacted him and asked if he would be interested in mixing up something special for us.

His name is TantRut.

TantRut aka Ruud Kalis lives on a tiny island in Sweden where he moved after seven years in Berlin. There is a bohemian vibe on the island, it got popular in the 70s amongst hippies and has been a place that has attracted lots of creative minds. Since there aren’t any real clubs on the island the islanders create their own parties. Sometimes on a beach during a full moon or in one of the beautiful gardens during the traditional midsummer celebration, and even a normal living room can turn into tiny club within no time. It is on these parties that TantRut got inspired by a DJ called “the shaman” from Brännö and soon after the first mixes were created.

I was very intrigued about his cultural influences and his backround. When I asked him about where he drew his inspiration from, he shared his story with me…

“I am originally from the Netherlands where I started playing the guitar at 14. Most of the music I played was by Spanish and Latin American composers. I remember seeing Paco de Lucia on TV and it became a dream for me to play like him. It wasn’t until I moved to Berlin that I got to know a fantastic guitar teacher from Andalusia. He taught me everything about flamenco culture. I got obsessed with that and was at my best when I travelled through Andalusia with a buddy for a month to learn, play and party with the local gitanos (gypsies). Flamenco guitar is a lot of fun because it is very technical and has complex rhythms and uncommon tone scales.. but it is not really something you entertain people with at a bonfire.When I moved to this tiny Swedish island after 7 years in Berlin the islanders were organising these raves where one of the DJs was playing this electronic music that had influences from Latin America and Africa but at the same time sounded like house, disco and techno. That was an eye opener for me. In Berlin I had only been to clubs where they played very minimal techno and I could not connect to it. It felt too dark and cold. So when I picked up DJing it was almost naturally that I ended up playing music by for instance Nicola Cruz and Matanza. These sounds and beats were the closest to what I had listened to in the years before.
I believe that flamenco music has its roots in India and their music has influences from Arab and Latin American music. You can hear it and also the dance has similarities. This particular mix starts with a track by Anoushka Shankar. She has composed the fantastic album called Traveler where she combines traditional Indian music with flamenco. I tried to link her music with electronic music. Not just because it sounds good but also to open up doors to different styles for my listeners.
My last name means “vagabond” in Dutch. A vagabond is a person that wanders from place to place without a home or a job. A gypsy basically. Even though my own parents and grandparents never lived a life like that, our family name gives away our cultural heritage. I believe that I inherited the gypsy gene in our family and it is one of the reasons why I felt comfortable in wandering around, working and travelling through Europe and other parts of the world. I love exploring new cultures, people and languages. And through my mixes I want to share that happiness with other people.

• This is the mix that lead me to him: