Helsinki based producer and DJ Tapio Hakanen, better known as Orkidea is one who is always associated with sounds that touch your soul.
Every release from the man has been fresh and straight from the heart, and it reflects very clearly in the music he puts out. He has always been very real and managed to pull down the barriers between people through his music. Putting it down exactly as he says it, “To me, electronic music and club culture has always been about open-mindedness, unity amongst people and pushing the musical boundaries forward, whether it’s an ambient concert in a park or full-on rave in a warehouse.”
Taking things a step ahead this year, he has gone out to release some stellar singles and has also mixed the upcoming edition of the legendary “In Search Of Sunrise” compilation! We sit down and talk to him about his year, his opinions on the scene, his experience mixing ISOS and a lot more!
Shivani – Hey Tapio! It’s great to be speaking to you. How has 2019 been treating you to date?
Orkidea – 2019 has been amazing so far! Gigs around the world at iconic venues and events like Ministry of Sound, ADE, Café del Mar, EDC in US and Luminosity.
Shivani – Firstly, congratulations! You were recently awarded the “Head of Music” of the year at the annual music & media awards! How is the feeling like?
Orkidea – It’s always nice to get recognition and when it comes from your peers it’s very valuable and much appreciated.
Shivani – The last album that we heard from you was “Harmonia” in 2015. Are you working on a new album anytime soon?
Orkidea – I am now in more of “singles, remixes, and bootlegs” mode. Aiming to have one release per month out this and next year. I love albums and concepts around them but currently, prefer a steady flow of music coming out.
Shivani – If you could play a back to back set with any artist, who would you pick and why?
Orkidea – I would choose Paul van Dyk because I haven’t played a b2b with him and he is one of my biggest influencers back in the day.
Shivani – We recently heard that you will be mixing this year’s edition of In Search Of Sunrise! Congratulations! How did it all happen?
Orkidea – Thank you! Mixing an ISOS compilation is a real dream-come-true to me as I’m a long time fan of the Balearic and progressive sound of them. I’ve been releasing lot of music through Black Hole (label behind the series) so they thought my prog trance sound would be fitting to the series and nice addition to this edition alongside Jerome’s deeper sound and Markus’ bigger sounds.
Shivani – Will we be seeing any special Orkidea tracks or remixes in this one?
Orkidea – My next single ‘One Man’s Dream’ will be included there. I was hoping to have some of my exclusive remixes included but they were too hard to clear for this use.
Shivani – What is your process like when you select tracks for the mix?
Orkidea – First I think of the overall mood that I’m looking for. After that, I vision the flow of the mix: where it starts from and where it will end musically. Then it’s all about finding the right tracks for that. Which usually starts building around certain key songs in different parts of the mix. First and last songs are the most important ones for me.
Shivani – Where do you see trance heading in the next 5 years?
Orkidea – Personally I hope that the progressive sound would make a proper comeback, but in a totally revised form. I loved the late 90s UK trance sound (Sasha, Digweed, Renaissance, Oakenfold) which was more groovy and hypnotic. I hope we get some young, creative and inspiring producers into the scene. I hope that the future of trance is built by a diverse and exciting group of people as possible!
Shivani – What is the one thing you like about trance fans and one thing you dislike?
Orkidea – The best thing in the trance scene overall is the community and feeling of togetherness. It’s really special and seems to be getting rarer in the world of electronic music nowadays. What I dislike is that trance as a genre seems to be leaning heavily towards the past with a lot of attention in classics and things of past and not enough innovation production-wise. I hope the trance scene is able to fully reinvent itself during the coming years and attract a younger generation into the scene – alongside all the old schoolers. And this criticism was equally pointed towards me as it was towards the whole scene.
Shivani – What does the rest of 2019 hold in store for you?
Orkidea – It’s pretty exciting rest of 2019: In Search Of Sunrise 15 compilation release, my new single ‘One Man’s Dream’, collaboration with Solarstone called ‘Slowmotion V’, some bootleg remixes and gigs in EDC in the US, Zouk in Singapore, VII event in Amsterdam and Green Komm in Germany. It’s been an amazing year so far which I’m super happy and thankful to everyone who has made it possible and came to my gigs. So much love for you! <3
Orkidea mixes the next edition of T.H.E – Podcasts, and you can stream it here.
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