Mo Becha
By: Dennis Kane
This month I am joined by my pal the great Mo Becha aka Mo Disko, who is one half of The Glimmers, (along with his lifelong friend David Carlos Fourquert) and is also a member of the protean and electrifying band Rheinzand. Mo has been digging, playing, and making records since he was a preteen. (Mo and David had a before school morning DJ gig!). We recently talked about his early record experiences and his progression into life as a DJ, producer, and disco Don.
Check out The Glimmers on Discogs and Rheinzand on Discogs
- Dennis Kane
I grew up with a lot of different sounds in the home, my father was Algerian, and would play Egyptian and Syrian music, Fareed El Atrache is one I remember, he was a well-known singer, composer, and actor. (he was known as the "King of the Oud") My parents divorced, and my mother remarried a Malaysian man, so then there was an entirely different palette of sounds, gamelan and different wind and percussion instruments. My mother owned a bar, and I was drawn to the 45's that were in the jukebox. I remember the catalogs you would order the 7's from. When I was around 11 there had been a party at the bar, and the next morning the DJs setup was still there, I went in and began playing the records, the DJ had 12”s not just 45”s and I was excited to hear longer intros, and extended breaks in the song. Italo sounds, like Lime, sounded so crisp on the wider grooves of a 12”.
In high school David and I were absorbing the B-Boy, Electro, and hip-hop experience, films like Beat Street and Wild Style had a huge impact. We were into breakdancing, graffiti, and starting to collect and share records.
My Sister took me to this Sunday night party at a club called Carrera, TC was the DJ and he was playing a lot of the music that would inspire nu beat, from Max Berlin and Anne Clark, to Executive Slacks and Fad Gadget, Savage Progress etc...
David and I met Stefaan Vandenberghe, (who would later co-found Eskimo w Dirk DeRuyck) he had a show on Radio 1, a small pirate station that was hugely influential. Years later while working at Music Man records, he started NEWS distribution. Thursday nights, when the new vinyl arrived, were essential.
David and I had also started playing at this spot called La Mistral, and went there whenever they would have us. We were also spending serious time at this small shop called Musique Laden. For us it was a daily nonstop obsession to work mastering the pitch bar, improve our mixing, and see how we could manipulate the vinyl, and impact the dancers. We also were constantly digging for more music, attempting to broaden our sensibility and gain better understanding of the craft. (An ongoing lifetime project)
Some early finds:
- “I love to love” Tina Charles
- A DMC record pool extended version of Prince's “Kiss”
- A 12” of Soft Cell's “Tainted Love” which I bought in the supermarket! (They would sell popular records on one wall) My mother sent me out for eggs but....
- A bootleg version of Kevin Saunderson's “Rock to the Beat”
- There were often bootleg, or new versions made of popular Chicago or Detroit records.
- I had a different version of Lil Louis’ French Kiss as well.
