Clap! Clap!

Inventive producer Cristiano Crisci combines African rhythms with electronic music for his unique musical style. Tom Jones digs into his infectious love of music of all kinds to find out where the Clap! Clap! sound was forged.

Charismatic Italian producer Clap! Clap! has fast garnered a reputation as a distinctive and innovative force on the electronic music scene. Fusing disparate influences that focus on traditional African rhythms with a modern, dancefloor aesthetic, the highly inventive producer has found an energetic sound that bristles with a bright array of colours and cultures that form a fun and hedonistic melting pot. His debut album Tayi Bebba and his new follow-up A Thousand Skies have consistently challenged the current discourse on electronic music, even leading to him producing three tracks on Paul Simon’s latest studio album.

FM caught up with Clap! Clap! to find out where his unique style comes from and hear about some of his unusual music making processes…

FM: How were you introduced to music growing up? What sparked your interest?

Clap! Clap!: “When I was a child I was attracted to Hip-Hop culture. The first tape I bought was De La Soul’s Three Feet High And Rising and that tape opened a new world. I immediately started to dig CDs, vinyl and tapes like The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Naughty By Nature, Lords of The Underground, Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde etc. At that age I tried for a long time to share those treasures with my friends, but it was not easy in Italy at the beginning of the ’90s to find young dudes interested in cultures like Hip-Hop. After much searching I finally found the right guys and we started our first crew. I was an MC and a producer; it was fun growing up doing beats and rhymes with my friends here.”

How did your musical philosophy change and evolve over the years?