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The exclusive interview with the CÉ LA VI Hong Kong Director and Entertainment manager is OUT NOW!
Today we would like to present you club in Hong Kong, it's CÉ LA VI! At CÉ LA VI, the pursuit of pleasure has ascended to dizzying heights. Luxuriate in sublime surroundings at our Sunset Sessions, with seductive beats and soul-stirring cocktails. Savour creative Modern Asian cuisine, complemented by inventive mixology at its finest. Discover stratospheric levels of excitement at our Club Lounge, a magnet for the A-List crowd. This is CÉ LA VI. This is life at the top. We talked with the Director and Entertainment manager Stephane Juif. Check our exclusive interview below:
DJANEMAG: Can you tell about yourself? How did you start a work in the club? How long do you personally work out there? What are your responsibilities?
Stephane Juif: My nickname is DJ Fudge (aka Stephane Juif) , I am a DJ ,producer, remixer ,musician ,and I’m running Tejal records which is a soulful and deep tek label based in Barcelona Spain, I released my first ep in 1994 under Laurent Garnier Label ,and since then i have been an international DJ under Defected records DJ agency ,and I have produced more than 200 tracks on major labels like ,Virgin, Sony, Universal, Yoruba, ,Z Records, Defected, Pacha, Ministry of Sound… I have also produced music for PlayStation games (PS2 & PS3) such as “Street Soccer”
Now I am the music director and entertainment manager at CÉ LA VI HONG KONG. I joined just over a year and half ago.
DJANEMAG: When was the club opened? What is the story of club`s name? What is the capacity, politic of club, price?
Stephane Juif: CÉ LA VI HONG KONG opened in September 2015; consisting of three floors on the top of California Tower, one of the newest developments in Lang Kwai Fong (HK’s nightlife zone). We have a Restaurant serving Modern Asian Food, Indoor Club Lounge where we do our club nights and international guest DJs, and a Sky Deck rooftop bar which is where I mainly spin offering panoramic views of HK’s iconic skyline. Ur Club capacity is approx. 150 persons. Our Sky Deck is 140 persons. Both are standing capacities with seating also available.
DJANEMAG: What are the hallmarks of your club that distinguish you from other clubs in your city and in your country?
Stephane Juif: CÉ LA VI HONG KONG is a one stop shop with multi-floor offerings, something very unique in Hong Kong’s fine dining and nightlife scene. With such a small condensed area hosting so many nightclubs and dining venues, we are the only venue in Hong Kong that can boast skyline views, central location and have a restaurant with full operating kitchen, club lounge to accommodate international acts and events such as the Clockenflap after party (HK’s largest music festival) along with a rooftop bar and DJ decks to go with it. Other venues have one or two of these elements but we are very fortunate to be able to have all three and manoueve off them for tailor made events and concepts across the floors.
DJANEMAG: Does your club work in one musical style, which one and why? Does the style of music depend on the party or on the day of the week?
Stephane Juif: We have several party’s during the week ,as we have 3 floors our music varies depending on the day and the floor. On the rooftop which is opened 7 days a week from 3pm to 3am we have several night themes including Cuban Nights playing latin beats with Salsa dancing to accompany it. ,Wednesday we fuse the two floors with disco, funk and soul music. And the Friday through to Monday we offer a more ‘chillout” zone due to the club being opened with a different theme and feel. And we play everything from Soulful house ,nu disco,
jackin house ,disco funk ,and deep tek.
In the Club; we have to provide an Open Format. We tend to avoid EDM and dubstep as it can be too aggressive for our brand and our guests. This actually works to our benefit due to our location being in LKF it’s also a way for us to provide a different musical option to party-goers. This means we are different from the several competitors in the area. And from my experience and feedback; we have many guests coming to me and saying they are amazing they can find a space in Central with quality music and different sounds to “the general consensus”. If I had to name our style of music offered it would be “sophisticated”.
DJANEMAG: What are the main differences between a Female DJ performs on the stage and a male DJ?
Stephane Juif: The obvious main difference is that people are not used to see many female DJ playing and for being in this business since many years and touring for more than 20 years ,i can say that only 3% of my gigs were shared with female DJ’s. ,
So i think it’s always more interesting for the public to listen to Djane and more surprising ,and i hope we will see more female DJ’s in a near future!
DJANEMAG: By what principle do you choose DJs to perform at your club?
Stephane Juif: Professionalism is the main key for me throughout my career. I tend to opt for and book DJ’s with a huge musical backgrounds and musical culture and experience in the industry. This is preffered to the up and coming DJ who started 3 years ago on a laptop just because it’s trendy to be a DJ and wanted to go party for free which you see a lot of in town and throughout the world in my tours. You can tell a DJ’s lack of experience with his music downloads being lower quality because he downloaded the set for his latest pool party instead of bought the song full format and supported the industry.
Of course I could never judge a DJ on his followers numbers ,but more on his skills and experience. I want DJ’s who are able to educate the crowd playing unknown music to the crowds ears, but a DJ who also knows when they need to switch up the vibe, change tunes because they are losing the dance floor crowd.
Also this makes me think of an old conversation with a DJ hailing from NYC. I was talking about iconic pineers of the music and sound such as Studio 54, Shelter ,and Paradise Garage ,and he didn’t have a clue about those NYC legendary clubs… I mean if you want to be a DJ … know your history and Club culture!
DJANEMAG: Do you follow our top100djanes ranking and what advice could you give us?
Stephane Juif: Sorry not yet ,but will now !
DJANEMAG: Does your club have as resident female DJs in your club and how could you characterize their work?
Stephane Juif: We have Helen Ting Wich is exactly the perfect example of someone passionate about music. She’s not into this business for the money or the fame but for the love of the music. And you can see that when you see her spin. She plays mostly Afro House and she recently did a tour in africa where she has a huge following and well deserved! I wish we could host more female DJ’s like her. A set with Helen is full of energy and she transmits this vibe on our rooftop every Tuesday and has the crowd moving to her beats. Something that does not happen often on the Sky Deck since we have a Club downstairs!
DJANEMAG: Do you have favorite club in the world, which work you try to copy or do you create an individual club style with its own specifics?
Stephane Juif: We don’t copy anyone CE LA VI has his own identity and even if you go to CE LA VI Singapore or Bangkok you will found the same passion for the music and the same high quality selection of DJ’s. We are all cut from the same cloth and its why CE LA VI music has become so recognizable and distinguishable in three different counties to its surroundings and competitors..
DJANEMAG: Which of the female DJs do you consider the best in the world and who would you like to see djing in your club?
Stephane Juif: Well now that I am following your top 100; I will probably found my favorite female DJ ! Ask me in the next interview!
DJANEMAG: What was the most curious moment in your work in the club you remember for the last year? Share it with our readers?
Stephane Juif: I have too much respect for your readers to share it.
DJANEMAG: Name 3 the most important qualities of a DJane.
Stephane Juif: She has to play for the crowd not for herself. She has to have energy and share this energy with the people ,
She has to amaze the dance floor playing unknown music that blow peoples minds and want to go home (or Shazam it these days) and be like “ WHAT IS THIS TUNE - I NEED THIS”.
DJANEMAG: Who is responsible for the meeting and taking care of a DJ in your club? Do you find this work tedious? Or do you think it is the most pleasant part?
Stephane Juif: Usually it’s me or my Assistant Manager Bennie Blanco. It can be the most exciting experience or the most terrible. We had some DJ’s who were extremely picky despite it just being another Friday night but mostly we have DJ’s who have amazing skills, and are extreemelu proffesional funny and polite. Most of the time it’s the DJ who started 2 years ago who act like a superstar ,the ones who are in this business for many years don’t have anything to prove to themselves they are most of the time more humble and respectful to your country, venue and ultimately club.
DJANEMAG: What time a headliner plays in your club and how long?
Stephane Juif: For an international guest DJ; their set begins around midnight to 2am. However we are flexible it depends of many parameters. We also have our residents playing up to four hour sets before the guest headliner comes on.
DJANEMAG: What was the most popular song/track in your club in 2017?
Stephane Juif: I would be a liar if i said it’s not Despacito lol
It’s not that surprising to hear this on the regular, and I would dare say pretty scary if we didn’t get this request 20 times for that song in one night! If we didn’t get this influx it would mean our Club is closed! It also shows to me as a DJ how much people need to be “tuned” musically to show them there is more to music to feed your ears with then just Top 40 pop songs and mainly Despacito! Luckily our resident dj Bennie Blanco work hard to change the tendency, that’s why we decided also to avoid most music requests since I joined the team. I truly believe that every DJ and clubs should do the same. I remember back in the days there was no requests, people has no choice but to listen the DJ’s selection. If people want their own music they still can stay at home and listen to it. I guess to a DJ it's like going to the cinema and saying do you want to know the end of the movie before watching the movie? I ask clubbers and music lovers to give us a chance to show and share with you what we love and maybe you will find something new that excites you and puts that spark and song in your head. Also I want to share that our best song on the rooftop and the winner would have to definetly be: Marco Valery, Sharlene Hector - Free Love (Michele Chiavarini & DJ Spen Extended Mix)
DJANEMAG: What was the best party in your club in 2017 and why?
Stephane Juif: I reckon it was when we hosted the after party for Clockenflap festival. It provides a setting to offer the perfect music acts coming through therefore spinning legendary music sets that any country would be lining up to witness. As a result it seamlessly creates the perfect setting to draw in the perfect crowd who in turn create the perfect vibe .
DJANEMAG: How strong do you love your work and do you see your future only in this work or would you like to try yourself in smth else?
Stephane Juif: I will stay forever in the music business because without music life is too sad and because I am in a mission to open people ’s mind and prove them that the best music is not in the top 100 billboard and the best DJ’s are not in the DJ top 100 magazines ! I will probably going back on the way to the studio very soon
and begin to start composing and producing music, as I’ve been approached by many labels lately asking me some production; such as Defected and Sony alongside some underground labels. I am in a place in life where I can work on a live act after playing as a DJ for many years i want to go a step further and playing my music live – directly and just for the crowd that is in front of me to personally connect with each and every one and send them my best energy and intentions. This is my love for DJing in a nutshell; taking my music further and sharing my love of music with other music lovers.
DJANEMAG team want to thank for interview! We are absolutely sure that our readers found out a lot of interesting and useful information. DJANEMAG strongly recommend to visit CÉ LA VI!
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