Get to know Satori, the Dutch artist leading Ibiza’s nomadic movement

For Djordje Petrovic, better known as nomad sounds producer Satori, surviving the Amsterdam dance circuit meant refusing to sell his soul to the devil. “Raising the BPMs and doing lots of fist-pumping,” Satori laughs; “when you do that your musical career is over. You become just another DJ doing exactly what everybody else is doing.”

Performing live in Amsterdam for ravers more accustomed to melodic deep house and techno, Satori had to learn fast. “I needed to survive playing lower BPMs,” he explains. “But in the beginning I was killing parties. There was always a guy before me playing much faster; I realised that I needed to find a way to communicate my music without having to raise the tempo. In the beginning it was pure survival.”

Satori found the answer hidden in the sonic structure of African music. “That’s when I found about the third,” he smiles. “I realised that the BPM of African music is super low, yet it feels super energetic. And it’s all down to the way they combine the third and fourth beat, which creates so much energy. This is how I create what I call the dynamic illusion of tempo.”