A combination of energetic 1970s disco and modern electronic music will be on display at WOMADelaide when British musician Miles Cleret takes to the stage.
After a creative journey to Ghana during the early 2000s, the London music producer and DJ has taken inspiration from the music of different cultures and past eras to create his own record label.
Soundway Records was born to channel this rejuvenation, bringing the sounds of the past to the stages of the present. The label has successfully released a series of critically-acclaimed compilations and albums, with Soundway now housing a wide spectrum of artists.
Although it's certainly not an easy task, Miles says many crowds are pleasantly surprised when modern dance styles can be utilised to seamlessly re-issue older dance tracks. "I think people often have a view of older music as being very different from new music, but some of the best producers, DJs and music lovers will agree that there's a lot of old tracks that if presented in the right way can sit really well next to modern music.“When you play a real mixture of music, it becomes much more of task to make those sort of transitions, to make the old sit well with the new," Miles explains.
Recently in Jakarta searching for the best records of 1960s Indonesia, Miles is always on the prowl for vintage music: from African disco to anything Latin and Central American.
His eyes and ears, in both old record stores and online marketplaces, never stop searching for something a bit older or different to intertwine with his modern setlist. "I am always looking out for older music that has high production values. You can be amazed sometimes by the music that was produced back in the ‘60s and even the late ‘50s."
Even though the roots of his records will always be in the past, Miles says he is being inspired by the new generation of musicians, who he says are hard to even place a label on. "There's some very interesting music coming out from a whole generation of people that are just more musically mature than has been the case in the past.
“Now you can get everything at the click of your finger, you can listen to so much different music, the resources of music that are out there now are so wide-ranging.
"In the past I would have said that 'I'm really into African music now or Latin music now or Caribbean music or a certain era'. But I think right now my influences are all these amazing bands popping up around the world."
Bringing this unique sound to his Friday night gig at WOMADelaide Festival, Miles is excited to get back to Australia. "I always find Australian crowds really up for it and openminded, and very passionate about music… I'm really looking forward to spending time there," he says.
Miles Cleret performs at the 20th annual WOMADelaide Festival 11 March.
