Weekly Mezcolanza: DJ Dacel

Santiago de Chile’s hip-hop scene has given birth to some of the most amazing artist of the genre. Unfortunately, most of them are unknown abroad. I mean, we’re all familiar with Anita Tijoux by now, right? Many of you may know DJ Bitman or even the talented DJ Raff, but how about DJ Dacel?

Dacel (short for Daniel Celso) has been cutting records since the late ’90s and participated as a guest turntablist and/or beat producer on many of the scene’s most relevant albums, including Miss Tijoux’s 1977.

One thing Dacel has in common with Anita is his admiration (almost obsessive, I’d say) for Detroit producer J Dilla, who, since his death in 2006, has become an iconic cult-like figure for underground hip-hop heads all over the world (earlier this year, Anita took time off her busy touring schedule to visit Dilla’s burial site during her first visit to the US). Here we offer you Dillatastic, Dacel’s 50-minute mixtape tribute to the revolutionary beatmaker.

As a side note, Dacel is promoting the recent release of his debut album, Sol de Octubre, with a really fun video. I’m hoping it gets international release soon and I’m also hoping Anita can bring him along for her next US tour.