DJ Sun mixes music and culture like a gourmet chef. He sprinkles all parts of his heritage – Dutch, Caribbean, Indo-Chinese and African – onto his turntables to the delight of his audiences.
“I don’t want to be driven by what’s the popular curve today,” said DJ Sun, whose real name is Andre Sam-Sin. “I just want to make sure it all makes sense.”
DJ Sun’s father was born in Suriname, a one-time Dutch colony and moved to the Netherlands to get a better education. DJ Sun was born in Rotterdam, before the family moved back to Suriname and later to Texas.
For the past 18 years, DJ Sun has made Houston his home, hosting a weekly radio show Soular Grooves on KPFT 90.1 FM, and performing nightly at clubs.
Back on January 19, DJ Sun celebrated his birthday as well as the release of his debut full-length album One Hundred.
“I’m still an all-vinyl DJ,” he said. “It sounds warmer and it reaches people more than people really imagine.”
How did growing up in Rotterdam, Holland impact your musical influences?
My father had a number of records that were Caribbean-based like Byron Lee and The Dragonaires. I was exposed early to a number of these reggae and Caribbean sounds that were in our household in the Netherlands. Rotterdam was going through a resurgence after the war and there was a lot of good flavor from Suriname, Curacao, Aruba, but I didn’t have it in a tropical setting till I moved to Suriname.
It was in Suriname where I received the most of my influence toward music because Suriname at the time had these radio stations and in the tropics, they party a lot more. You’re finding yourself at these parties on the weekend, where the DJs are mixing disco, calypso, Suriname music, reggae, Bollywood and salsa. That’s kind of where the potpourri came in of different beats and different exposures that I had to different kinds of music. A lot of the stuff I didn’t understand but it sounded good.
When did you move back to Suriname?
At age 7. It was my first experience, having been born in the Netherlands. Here I come as a Dutch kid with a lot of Dutch mannerisms and I’m forced to assimilate into a Caribbean culture and for a 7-year-old, you’re very much influenced by what’s going on around you. You go from almost a kind of gray harbor town with a specific population that dresses a certain way to an all-warm tropical country where there’s festive settings and a lot of different musical styles by way of the radio stations.
Seems like you got your musical education in Suriname.
In the Netherlands, I was introduced to these sounds and once I got to Suriname I was like ‘Wow.’ But at the same time, I remember Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder coming out and that was a huge deal in Suriname. There was also a lot of American music that we were attracted to. What also happens in Suriname is that certain groups that didn’t necessarily make the mainstream in the United States become hits in Suriname. Once I moved to the US, I noticed these records that were dollar-bin records and I was like, ‘Wow, this was a hit in Suriname,’ and I could buy it for a dollar whereas in Suriname I could not afford it.
Then at age 14, you moved to Victoria, Texas.
That was bit of a culture shock because I spent summers in Holland, because we had so much family there. I got a chance to catch up with family and also catch up with European playlists. In the early 80s, European playlists were adopting more reggae, not necessarily the hotter, authentic reggae but the more softer, pop style of reggae. At age 14, I moved to Texas and I really had to kind of fend for myself in terms of musical stuff. I tried to make trips to Austin or Houston from Victoria to find those records that I still wanted to identify with. Bob Marley had just died and that was a kind of sad day in my life; and I was like, ‘How am I going to find these Caribbean flavors while I’m in Texas?’ Luckily enough, Victoria is not that far from Austin, which traditionally has had great record stores.
Did you know at that time music would be your calling?
I really wanted it to be but I didn’t get the encouragement that I needed because again, I was raised by a third-world view of parenting. I expressed an interest in going to high school and learning to play music and it was shot down pretty quickly because it’s not viable. To a West-Indian Caribbean engineer who has higher aspirations for his children, it’s just not an option. You’re supposed to go into a trade: engineering or accounting. I was obsessed with music and I bought my freedom once I got my university degree from the University of Houston.
After you graduated with a business degree, how did you become a DJ?
I totally bought the equipment and I had a Trinidadian friend who I asked for some pointers. I said to my friend Nigel, “How does this work?” and he said, “You got to listen to this side of the turntable and cue up the other side and just match the beats.” I was like, “It’s that easy? Really?” I started doing it and distributing tapes to friends. One of my friends was a lawyer who was setting up a party in the Galveston area. He presented me in lieu of this commercial radio DJ they were looking at. He presented me as “No. We’re not going to use this commercial radio DJ. We’re going to bring in this dude who is the hottest DJ out of Amsterdam.” I didn’t know he was doing this until the story came out later. I was presented as this hot DJ from Holland and I’ve never played out before. Literally, since that beach party, I have not stopped working and that was 1993.
How has your radio show helped you expand and foster your career?
It’s a definite boost when you’re able to get on a public radio station that’s quite popular in the community that broadcasts at 100,000 watts, that reaches the suburbs of Houston and beyond. It definitely helped establish myself within the community of Houston. It took some time, because I basically set out to represent a specific aesthetic and I didn’t veer from that and it’s the same thing I do with my DJ-ing. I would get fired from a number of gigs in the first 3 or 4 years because the club owner would come to me and say, “I really need you to play Cher in this mix.” And I would say, “I can’t do that.”
You wanted to stay true to your tradition and culture; and the music you wanted to play.
If you’re representing something that you don’t believe in, you’re not going to sustain yourself for 20 years. Tonight, I’m packing up records for my Thursday night gig, and Saturday, I’m opening for Bebel Gilberto and another gig Sunday and another one Monday and I can easily go to those gigs because the music will represent what I’m doing and that’s 20 years after I started. I think there’s a certain amount of power in that. It’s self-empowerment and it’s really nice and humbling to get the respect of the Houston community after 20 years and for people to say, “I used to listen to your show back in the day and you’re still doing it. It sounds the way you meant it to be.”
I’ve read that you’ve become a cornerstone of the Houston music community. Wondering if you can talk about that.
I think what’s being commented on is that I’ve been here doing my thing consistently; working week in and week out. I’m averaging four to five nights a week as a DJ. I really aspire to become the cornerstone of the community and I see what needs to happen is still a few years away and I hope that I’m at the genesis of this. In a way, the Houston music community is somewhat fractured (because of Houston’s vast physical landscape) and what I strive to do with this record and just through action is to bring this community a little bit closer together, so we have more of an identity. We need to form our identity and I’m hoping I’m at the genesis of this. People know the Paul Wall, the Southern rap and Clint Black of Houston but there’s more to Houston than that. There are so many talented bands and jazz musicians here in Houston but everyone feels like they have to go to LA or NY. I would like to become the beacon who can say, “You don’t need to go to the coasts. Let’s build our own infrastructure here in Houston and support each other regardless of genre.”
How would you describe your DJ style?
I consider myself fairly skillful, but I do it in a functional way. I want the presentation to be just right in terms of where to take the listener and I like to keep a thread going. I like to tell stories in my set. I like playing different styles of music even in one set, but I want you to be able to walk along this with me. For instance, I’m not going to do something at 88 beats per minute (BPM) and in 5 minutes be at 128 BPM because that just doesn’t match. I could get you to 128 BPM but something is going to be happening in between. From 88 BPM, we could go to a groove that goes into classic old-school hip-hop, then we could go into something more soulful from 70s, and now we’re at 110 BPM and before you know it, we’re there.
Can you give me your opinions on two DJs, who are popular with our readers: DJ Logic and DJ Shadow?
DJ Logic is a personal friend of mine. I’ve been on shows with him. What he’s done in performance and production and working with Medeski Martin and Wood and The Logic Project – people are drawn to that groove that he brings. Those albums were driven by terrific musicianship and he had the foresight to recognize that. I have a lot of respect for what DJ Logic has done. DJ Shadow, I don’t know personally but he’s definitely a hero of mine because of what he’s done: making beats, performing and always staying true to what he wanted to do and never being taken off track. Endtroducing was a groundbreaking album and it paved the way for others.
What made you decide to finally release an album?
I felt like after putting out a couple of EPs ( Monday Drive, Para ) and learning the trade of making a record; I felt like I was ready to do this full-length. Maybe, it’s a bit of overdue and therefore you have 19 tracks on the record. Making an album was always a mission.
Are you going to tour behind this album?
I’m in the process of putting something together right now. We just need to make sure it makes sense. I make a living playing in Houston, so when I get out, it has to make financial sense. The record is getting nice traction all over the country, working on getting out to California in May and in June, I would like go to Washington DC, New York and Philly.
