This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)
From the first moment we met at Thuishaven, I was charmed by the cheerful and uninhibited demeanor of this talented man. Naturally, I was curious about his debut. So, in this edition of MY FIRST GIG: Dutch Patrick Raymond Teunisse a.k.a. DJ Raymundo: "There I was, at sixteen, in the high booth of a packed iT!"
“I’ve been involved with music from a very young age, maybe even in the womb. My father was a huge fan of electronic music. He listened to artists like Jean-Michel Jarre, Jon & Vangelis, and Kraftwerk. The latter is still one of my favorites.”
Ben Liebrand
“By now, I’ve surpassed my father in terms of my passion for music. I have a broad taste. In the eighties, I started recording music from the radio onto cassette tapes. I was also glued to the radio weekly for Ben Liebrand’s ‘Minimix.’ I was pretty much only focused on music and listened to an enormous amount.”
Hip Hop and Graffiti
“In the late eighties, some friends had a pirate radio station in Zandvoort, where I still live today. I started going there when I was twelve and met Edwin Keur, who remains my best friend to this day. He was passionate about hip hop and graffiti, which I also found fascinating at the time.”
Pioneer
“Through the local radio station in Zandvoort, I got into house music around 1991/1992. Since I had already been involved in the radio scene for a few years, I was allowed to host my own dance program at fifteen. It was called ZAPP on ZFM107. House wasn’t mainstream yet back then, so I also played swingbeat and hip hop on the show. René ter Horst a.k.a. DJ Zki (50% of Chocolate Puma) also worked at the station. He hosted one of the first house music programs in the Netherlands. In my eyes, he was a pioneer of (underground) house. It was through him that I really got hooked on the genre.”
Understanding Track Structure
“Another friend I met through the pirate station had turntables at home. He was thrilled by my interest and was the first to teach me how to use the buttons. I would spend every free moment after school at his place. It was there that I learned to pitch, mix, and understand the structure of a track. I was working at a snack bar at the time, and I saved all my earnings to buy my own turntables. My first ones were cheap versions of the Technics 1200. They were difficult to pitch with, but in hindsight, that was actually a good thing. It helped me master the skill within a year. The transition to real 1200s was smooth because of it.”
Marcello
“When I started hosting the radio show, I also began buying records, mainly from Boudisque and Outland Records in Amsterdam. I had already been to the RoXY by then. All the ‘older’ people there already knew me because they had seen me around town so often. I wasn’t interested in girls or drugs, just music. That’s how I met Marcel Bakker a.k.a. DJ Marcello. He was already spinning at the iT at the time and was amazed to see someone as young as me so passionate about music.”
Feeling the Atmosphere
“By this point, I had already played at a few small parties, but one day Marcello asked me if I wanted to try playing at the iT. Of course, I wanted to! That became my first big gig. I didn’t prepare for it, though. I still don’t. I had been listening intently for so long whenever others were playing. I absorbed everything related to house music. I would spend hours watching Marcello spin, for example. From him, I learned that you can’t plan an evening in advance. You have to feel the atmosphere and watch the crowd. I experienced this firsthand during my first gig. I had two forty-minute slots that night: one at primetime, 1:30 AM, and the other at 4:00 AM.”
‘Good job, kid’
“There I was, at sixteen, in the high booth of a packed iT! I was still in school, in my final year, no less. It was an incredible feeling! My first track was by Todd Terry. Naturally, I was a bit nervous at first, but after two tracks, the nerves vanished completely. It felt amazing. Marcello was there the whole time, encouraging me: ‘Good job, kid’. I owe him a lot.”
Stone-cold Sober
“Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t there that night, but he did come along several times later. The iT crowd was the ultimate party crowd, with that great atmosphere from back when house was still house. Back then, people didn’t really pay attention to the DJ; it was all about the music. Fortunately, my set went off without a hitch. Sure, I was still very young, so I probably made one or two mistakes. But by that time, I had practiced beatmatching so much that it was almost second nature. It’s like riding a bike; it’s in my DNA. Plus, I was already setting the bar high for myself. I am and will always be a control freak. By the way, I was stone-cold sober in the booth that night. I was a late bloomer, so I caught up on that other kind of enjoyment later in life.” (laughs)
“After those gigs at the iT, my network flourished even more. I was also writing articles for Basic Groove Magazine at the time, which led to me landing at various festivals. Since then, I’ve played at countless events and festivals myself. I’ve also had a residency at Club Escape in Amsterdam for twenty years (!) now. That’s a rarity in the dance industry. Of course, due to COVID-19, gigs have slowed down in recent months, but thankfully, they’re starting to pick up again, albeit slowly. Unfortunately, only a hundred people are allowed inside at a time, so it’s not like the old days yet, not by a long shot…”
This interview with Raymundo was originally published in August 2020 on This Is Our House.
Who is Raymundo?
Raymond Teunisse, known as DJ Raymundo, developed his passion for music at a very young age. It all started when his father started playing the music of electro/synthesizer hero’s Hot Butter (‘Popcorn‘), Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk around the family house.
When Raymundo turned 13 years old, he started working for an illegal so called pirate radio station in a small place called Zandvoort (The Netherlands). It was in that place that he first met the people who would play a significant role in his future musical life. While working at this radio station Raymundo was hearing the first so called “house” tunes and immediately he knew that this music would be something people would going to love.
This all took place in the early nineties. Raymundo got his first own radio show when he was only 14 years old and while working for this station he met various producers and DJs. For instance, he met with DZ Zki (known for aliases as Jark Prongo, The Goodmen and Chocolate Puma). Furthermore he met DJ Marcello, who was playing at the famous Club iT in Amsterdam at the time. Marcello gave Raymundo the opportunity to start playing in the same club. This is where Raymundo started learning all the skills that a quality DJ needs.
Raymundo’s taste for music was shaped as well in that club in 1994. Raymundo started playing club house, latin and tech house. He was always looking at the response of the his audience, since it’s all about them having a good time. After playing records for a couple of years Raymundo was asked to be a resident in one of Amsterdam’s finest clubs: Club Escape.
Furthermore Raymundo changed his name in 2001 from DJ Raymond into Raymundo and started producing music himself as well. He released a couple of vinyl productions on various labels.
More Raymundo?
More First Gigs? Check them all here.
