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Music

Michael Brun

MICHAEL BRUN with CALVIN HARRIS, MARTIN GARRIX, KNIFE PARTY & ZEDD, IGGY AZALEA and many more, as part of VELD FESTIVAL (day two), at Downsview Park (35 Carl Hall), Sunday (August 3), 11 am. $225.44-$305. veldmusicfestival.com.


Growing up in Haiti gave Michael Brun a unique perspective on EDM. While most people first experience dance music at parties, for many years Brun could only imagine what an electronic bass drum feels like coming out of a big sound system.

“There aren’t really any clubs in Haiti,” Brun explains from his current home in Miami. “Everything I heard was through friends, not at events.”

It wasn’t until he went away to military school in Indiana that he began to commit more seriously to producing electronic music. But that wasn’t because living in America gave him much better access to clubbing.

“I wouldn’t really say there was that much electronic music in Indiana either. It was more that I had time to do other things after school, and music was the one hobby I really enjoyed.”

Some of the tunes he posted on the internet started getting buzz on the blogs, which led to bigger gigs when he’d return home to Haiti in the summers – there weren’t many other local DJs competing for opening slots when promoters began bringing international talent. Soon he found himself signed to EDM superstar Dirty South’s label, Phazing, and playing the global festival circuit.

Not bad for someone who’s only been DJing professionally for a year and a half. And through his new label, Kid Coconut, he’s already paying it forward.

“Growing up in Haiti there were very few ways to get my music out to the public. I want to provide some kind of outlet for other up-and-coming artists who don’t really have an audience and want to be able to expand their reach – like Dirty South did for me.”

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles

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