Producer Samiyam was back in Hong Kong for his second performance in the city on Saturday, April 13th. The venue for the night was an outdoor terrace attached to the far end of an industrial building in Ap Lei Chau.
The party began with a solid set by Achun from Macau, followed by a rare groove and disco set by DJ K-Melo that got the night started.
An open-minded, music-loving crowd was in attendance and began moving to the beat early on.
Samiyam makes music live
Producer Samiyam doesn’t DJ at his shows, instead he gives a live performance where he plays his original songs in their un-sequenced form.
The experience is sort of like hearing the parts of a Hip Hop instrumental be put together live right before your eyes (with improvisation!)
During the show, Samiyam was in constant motion, banging away on his Roland 404 machine, triggering snippets of samples, hooks, and beats and adding effects to them on the fly.
If you can imagine breaking down a song into all of its parts, he moves from tapping out a drum pattern, to releasing a floating orchestral sample, and then letting loose a few synthesizer notes.
Throughout the performance he used samples as percussion, segueing between songs with brute force. In the midst of all this, he also employed a few DJ techniques, manipulating the mixer to take out the sound every now and then in a rhythmic way.
Samiyam’s music has a heavy, lumbering quality to it, with lots of melodic bass. It’s slower and much more soulful than other offshoots of instrumental Hip Hop music popular these days, such as Trap, which is heavily influenced by Southern Hip Hop rhythms.
If you’re searching for a reference, Samiyam’s sound has a lot in common with the legendary J. Dilla, who also came from the state of Michigan.
In addition to his skill as a beatmaker, Sam demonstrated his microphone prowess with a few raps throughout the show. He’s got a casual, nonchalant flow that matches his low-key instrumentals perfectly.
Between the excellent DJ sets and the live sounds from Samiyam, this was a unique show. Special thanks to Sessions HK, Henry, and the Luraka Secret Base for a fun night of amazing music.
