With more than 20 years of music production and entrepreneurship under his belt, Brazilian native Renato Ratier has helped sculpt the country’s modern-day electronic music terrain. São Paulo’s bustling energy matches D-Edge’s equally gritty persona, while eight hours down south in Itajaí, Warung Beach Club’s iconic sunrise sets have become routine for many of the local dance music enthusiasts.

Ratier – an international DJ, producer, multi-club owner, restaurateur and label head – has seen it all. He’s a man constantly on the move, but with good reason: Renato is a fixture in the music, dining and now fashion spaces, and few can match his talents. It’s all a balancing act, but over the course of many years of trial and error and launching a slate of new business ventures, Ratier has come to master the art of equilibrium.

As D-Edge anticipates its 17th birthday this weekend with Stephan Bodzin, Nicole Moudaber and Roman Flugel, Renato Ratier has more than enough to celebrate. A sister venue in Rio de Janeiro is already on its way, but we’ll save that story for next time.

Brazil is a strong cultural mixture of European, African, oriental and indigenous peoples and it reflects in its musical heritage. The crowd is super openminded, has good taste in music and loves to party. If you gain their trust, Brazilians are very devoted and amazing crowd. In terms of the wider music trends in Brazil, rock is powerful, but the electronic music scene is in fast lane and it is certainly catching up.

I do think that the scene in Europe is amazing, with lots of interesting markets, but the Brazilian market is super unique and special and is focussed for more than a couple of years on its authenticity. It means quality wins over quantity. Quality becomes classic and it wins over trendy and popular things, and time extracts quality from any work and shows if it is meant to pass or meant to stay.  Electronic music is meant to stay as long as it makes people feel right, and I am super proud to cultivate and cherish its beauty and power, and am on a mission to share this with entire world, from day one.

I live in São Paulo and am traveling and moving as work requires. I tend to be as organised as possible in my daily life, but I do not behave by strict schedule and routine. My days, and my working week, are super dynamic and divided between D-Edge club and the D-Agency, Bossa Restaurant, and my Ratier clothing line. My weekends are usually reserved for my gigs here in Brasil and for gigs abroad. When I have spare time, I certainly rush to see my kids and my family.

I am the kind of person whose full potential comes out from working on various projects at the same time. I discovered my brain has more inspiration and I have more efficiency following this working style. I research and create whenever I have inspiration and a gap in between other business activities.

D-Edge Records is a brand project oriented towards club expansion and the consolidation of club as a central force of electronic music in the region, and Olga is a new label with its DNA deeply rooted in Techno, but with an introspective and emotional, experimental nature. I am in full charge, but I do have the help of a lovely team behind me.

When it comes to making music, inspiration is something that is fluid and comes in specific moments. I am really lucky to have a lifestyle in which I am faced with inspiring sounds and people everyday. Most of the time it happens really naturally and I have a strong vision of what I want to achieve in that specific moment. On the other hand, jamming sometimes brings excellent results and some tracks are born spontaneously and naturally in a not predestined way.

São Paulo is a powerful hub and it always had amazing potential, so that’s why we decided to open the club there. The aim was to create a place which turned into a real hub, and it has, but also this year we will open a club in Rio, and I am overwhelmed with positivity and happiness because of this.

Right now we are also working on various projects (after Carnival Bloco which was amazing) but next on our agenda is the D-Edge 17th b-day which will be great and held outdoors on an Urban Stage with a great line up featuring Roman Flugel, Nicole Moudaber and Stephan Bodzin, will be followed by a retrospective compilation of our work with D-Edge Records and Olga.

After that we are officially opening D-Edge Rio de Janeiro,  but we will keep you posted, and I will be playing in Spain, Portugal, Germany and more this summer, so 2017 is definitely looking positive for me and the whole D Edge team.

Tags: Renato Ratier

Categories: Features