BROWNSWOOD CHRISTMAS PARTY

Village Underground | December 20th

World music maestro Gilles Peterson invited his disciples to the Brownswood Recordings Christmas party on December 20, and they came from around the globe to see the DJ spin until the early hours at Village Underground in London’s east end.

The 48-year-old, who set up the label in 2006, tag teamed with Belgian DJ Lefto, whose eclectic musical tastes and mastery of the decks led Peterson to label him the world’s best turntablist last July, at Worldwide Festival in the idyllic southern French port of Sète.

Lefto’s moniker derives from a French play on words, after he earned a reputation for rising earlier than most in his quest for new tunes and sounds. As soon as Peterson unearthed the Brussels-based crate digger almost a decade ago, Lefto became a mainstay of the Brownswood stable, however rarely is he afforded a headline slot. Mostly the 36-year-old is used as a filler DJ between Worldwide festival acts, along with DJ Simbad, though the pair did release their double-album Worldwide Family Vol.1 in early 2011, with more editions in the pipeline.

Fittingly for the loyal Brownswood servant, he was given free rein for most of the night to show what he can do. In Christmases past there have been artists from the gamut of Brownswood’s ever-growing roster who have performed live, but on this occasion it was stripped down to a simple feel-good party with one set of turntables and two musical champions having a lot of fun.

Here, as Village Underground opened its doors from 9pm, Lefto began spinning before the Brownswood punters had arrived and was again on the decks when the venue’s substantial dance floor swelled some four hours later. The bearded Belgian dotted around his vast collection of vinyl and, by preaching to his long-converted followers, found it easy to make heads nod and feet energetically plod, festive bangers all. In the crowd were familiar Brownswood faces, including Ghostpoet Obaro Ejimiwe, and Peterson’s good pal Earl Zinger, among others.

Every so often a grinning Peterson would appear from the backstage gloom, give his right-hand man a record or take control, but it was Lefto who enjoyed the lion’s share. Alex ‘Patchwork’ Stevenson, Gilles’s deputy at Brownswood and the main man behind up-and-coming London label Earnest Endeavours, was also billed but sadly not in attendance.

But with Peterson and Lefto crossing vinyl it was kept simple, effectively all the BBC Radio 6 Music DJ’s fans wanted for a Yuletide sendoff.

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gillespetersonworldwide.com/brownswood-recordings

Words: Oliver Pickup