Rhythms of Inspiration: Inside the World of DJ Gregor Salto

Gregor van Offeren, better known as Gregor Salto, is a Dutch DJ and producer born on April 21, 1976, in Haarlem. Van Offeren’s first songs were released in 1994 under the Amsterdam record label Outland Records. Under the pseudonym Scuba, he recorded several songs on the Amsterdam label Fresh Fruit. After an internship with the distributor of Spanish chill-out record label Cafe Del Mar, Van Offeren founded his own label G-Rex Music in late 2003.

Are you afraid to go on stage? If yes, how do you manage the stress?

No, I’m not afraid to go on stage. I guess it’s because I’ve been playing for so long that I’m not. Sometimes I can be afraid, for example if I have to play in a context where I know the people… then boom! I feel a lot of pressure. If I don’t know the people, it feels like I can just take it more professionally. If I know the people then I feel I have to make everybody happy but if I don’t know them I’m more confident. For example, I don’t like to play at weddings even because I feel that it’s a very important moment for those people. That’s when I feel a little bit stressed and that’s also the reason why I almost never do weddings.

How do you create music?

I create music in my studio. I’ve been playing piano since I was eight years old. I also play percussions a little bit. I have a studio here with all kinds of instruments and I use them to create. It’s like painting, you know, I have a lot of crayons, a lot of things that I can paint with, and I just play with them. Sometimes something good comes out, sometimes not. Sometimes it goes fast, sometimes it goes very slow… that’s the process.

When did you start to make music?

Well, I started playing piano when I was eight or seven, and to really make music like now I started when I was around 13 years old.

How did you discover your passion for DJing, and what inspires you to pursue it professionally?

My passion was to make music, I wanted to become a producer. When I was around your age, 14 years old, I was at a high school party, and I heard the DJ play House music. When I went to school I was mostly listening to hip hop and pop, then I heard that house track and I really liked it. I thought “Wow!”, it sounded very loud and I could really feel it. That’s when I decided I wanted to make this kind of music, and many years later I decided to become a DJ. My first passion and still today my biggest passion is to make music. If you really like something I think it’s good to try to make it become your work. It’s not always easy, you also have to find a way to make money, but I was lucky to be able to combine those two things.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Naturally I feel inspired by a mix of Afro/Latin, but also world music. It can be from the Middle East or India… things that sound exotic to me or tropical, things that I haven’t heard before. So, when I hear something new and fresh, and it resonates with me, I get inspired.

What is your biggest fear and your biggest dream as a DJ?

I don’t really have fears as a DJ. My biggest dream when I started was to play in many places, and I am living that dream, so I’m very happy.

Do you prefer to mix on the beach with the sun or in the mountains with the snow?

Well, I’ve played more parties on the beach in the sun. I’ve only played a few in the snow but it was a lot of fun. Both are beautiful but if you ask me today I would go for the snow because I want to ski. (laughs)

Have you ever been contacted to create a mix for a movie?

Yes, a long time ago. When we say a mix, it’s more like a DJ mix, when you combine one track with another track. When we say produce it’s more like you create music from zero, you compose it. So yes, a long time ago somebody wanted to use a little bit of my music for a movie but I don’t know if it happened eventually. This was 15 years ago or something, so… My music hasn’t been used in a lot of movies. Not yet!

Can you share a memorable experience from one of your performances that had a significant impact on your career?

There are some performances that had a big impact on my life because they were very memorable. There’s one on YouTube if you look up “Gregor Salto, South Africa” that’s where I play a set together with my friend Chappell the singer. We played “Your friend”, it was a very special night in a small club. Everybody knew the song and was singing and. It was positive, beautiful, and that’s one of my best memories.

How do you find music that pleases everyone?

I don’t find music that pleases everyone because everybody has different taste, but I hope that when I play people enjoy it. So, I do my best to make them enjoy but at the same time I always have to give my idea of music because if I wanted to please everyone I could just play “Top 40 music” and that’s not my job so I think my job is to bring something new and some people like it, some don’t. I will never please everyone. That’s OK!

What are the most important events in which you participated?

I played at Ultra Music Festival, Tomorrowland, and Mystery Land. But to be honest those were not the most important events for me. The best ones to me were for example the one in South Africa or another in Angola. There I really felt that I had a connection with the people, they were having a good time. Those are my favorite moments, not the ones that look good on the resume.

Alice Juvyns and Kayissa El Ouakhchachi / S4 / EEB1 Uccle