Kutiman - Music Is Ruling My World (feat. Karolina)
(12" virtual release/MP3 Podcast on ParisDJs.com)
Melting Pot/ParisDJs MPM042V/PARISDJS010, 2007-12-25



Tracklisting :
A1. Music Is Ruling My World
(feat. Karolina)

Links :
About the "Kutiman" album
myspace.com/kutiman
mpmsite.com
myspace.com/mpmworldwide

Kutiman interview - summer 2007:
Now Kutiman, how did you come to Afro-funk? And did you choose that name because of Fela Kuti?
I first heard Funk music 5 years ago, when my good friend and soon to be musical partner on various projects, DJ Sabbo, introduced me to the amazing world of Funk and Afro Music. I have to admit that growing up in a small town in the north of the country, at the pre-internet era, made it nearlay impossible to know most of these genres.
As for the name Kutiman -My name is Ophir Kutiel and Kuti is the nickname of almost everyone in my family- my grandfather, father, brother and sister are all nicknamed Kuti... It was many years later when I came to know the amazing work of Fela Kuti.

Do you realize that you have created a new kind of Vintage Funk & that it was the aim of this project?
No, I hadn't realized... I was simply trying to make music... But Thanks very much for the compliment! Like I mentioned earlier, this was shortly after I first listened to music by legends like Fela Kuti, Soft Machine, King Crimson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix as well as some other icons, all of whom I discovered all of a sudden and was amazed by their music.
This may also be the reason that the sound is vintage... I was so excited discovering these music treasures, I recorded my music without any bit of cynicism, just emotions.


If in a nightmare you were elected president for a year in your country, what would radically you change?
Indeed a nightmare... First I would try to quit... The truth is I try to stay out of politics as much as I can, I don't believe any politician... But I'll play along - I guess if I had to do something I would've been focusing on science and culture. Two fields I don't think our government is doing enough to support. I guess it wouldn't helped anyway, and then I would have quit...

Your first 12 inch ("No Reason For You" b/w "No Groove Where I Come From") is a great underground hit over here, could you tell me about your live project and hopefully when we will have the chance to see you play in Europe?
Actually the Kutiman project started as a solo studio project. I did it with the help of some amazing local musicians, not knowing where it would take me. Luckily my music is getting noticed outside my own laptop, so I have recently started to plan and work on the Kutiman show and hopefully we can take this project live in October, a month after the album is released. I was blessed to collaborate on this project with the crème of the local groove scene and I can't wait to take it live on stage.


There is so much feelings in your music, that's why so many DJs love your music straight away, now today they have more power than ever on choosing who to promote on the radio, so who are your favorite DJs?
I have to admit I'm not so familiar with the work of many international DJs. Believe it or not, I have only heard of Gilles Peterson a month before my first single was released... I can only recommend some DJs I have seen in Israel recently: Marc Hype, Kid Koala, Diplo, DJ Food. I was also blessed to get to know the Paris DJs team thanks to myspace and discover some cool DJs over there.

Have you ever thought of creating your own label in the past?
I never really thought about it. My wish is to get my first two albums released and than take it from there. Unfortunately, despite the fact that there are some amazing musicians around, the music side of the business is not easy these days, especially this side of the globe.