DJ OREN NIZRI HITS THE NATIONAL DANCE CIRCUIT

By Thomas Barker
Wire Magazine - Winter Music Conference Edition (WMC 2007)
Thursday, March 22nd 2007

A little less than four years ago, Miami welcomed DJ Oren Nizri to the local dance scene, and now one of Tel Aviv's hottest DJs is taking this country storm by storm, beat by beat, remix by remix.

When Oren moved here, he already had countless years of experience under his belt, spinning and producing music is his native Israel. Working the turntables in one of Israel's largest music store gave Oren the opportunity to study a variety of music. From soulful house to tribal beats, Oren learned everything he could about house music.

As a result, Oren was given his own radio show on one of Israel's largest radio stations called In My House. The show featured Oren's latest remixes as well as his favorite DJs and artists. Oren wanted more, however, and he knew that the music scene in the U.S. was more up his alley. So he packed up his vynil and headed to Miami to join some of the world's leading DJs.

A year after arriving, Oren and his two business partners George Coronado and Arnold Matteson set up an entertainment related marketing company called Give Me A Beat Productions. Over the past two and a half year the company has worked to highlight Oren's music in some of South Beach's most successful venues including Mansion, Social Miami at the Sagamore, Hotel Victor, Dreams Nightclub, Ink Nightclub, Score and Tantra, just to mention a few.

He's become so popular that he is now flying up and down the east coast, playing his music in some of the country's biggest clubs and events. From headlining West Palm Beach's Pridefest to working at the Club Machine in Boston, Oren will be spinning his vocal house tracks at almost every major dance function.

He has definitely become one of South Beach's most impressive up-and-coming DJs, which is why Wire wanted to give you a little more insight into his life and his music this week.

SO WHAT IS GIVE ME A BEAT PRODUCTIONS?

Give Me A beat is the name of our music production company. We started it about two and a half years ago, and we just continue to grow. Our company is still pretty simple though. George Coronado and Arnold Matteson are my business partners. George handles all of the marketing and manages all of the bookings. Arnold is the President of our business and handles all the accounting and keeps the finances on line. And, of course, I am the product. We are producing music and then selling it to various records labels.

WHO ARE SOME OF THE LABELS YOU'VE WORKED WITH?

We try to shop our music to a variety of dance labels throughout the United States. Right now, we are working with Jennifer C. She is a recording artist from Nervous Records, which is one of the biggest dance labels in NYC. I just completed a track with her called "Once Again". We are going to release the track as a single this summer. It was produced with Pawel Bartoszek, who is an amazing producer. He and I are currently working on a lot of stuff together.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE OF MUSIC?

My music can be described as very uplifting tribal house with a lot of vocals. It's very clubby, and can fit into pretty much any type of club. We've produced a number of remixes and a few of our own tracks. Since Pawel now lives in Long Island, New York, we are traveling back and forth a lot. I'm actually going up there in may to produce two new tracks.

TELL ME ABOUT SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE WORKED OVER THE PAST YEAR?

I did the White Party three years in a row. I did the Closing Party for the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival for the past couple of years. I play at Score every two and a half months or so. I'll actually be there the first week of April. Billy and Luis are very supportive of us. I think they are doing an amazing job. They manage to bring in world class DJs week after week, and there are not a lot of gay clubs that do that.

Currently, I am a Resident DJ at Social Maimi at the Sagamore Hotel every Saturday night. One of my favorite events was the Pridefest in West Palm. Last year was my first year and it was a huge success. this year I am going to play at the kick off party at Kashmir DanceClub in West Palm Beach and then I am going to be the main headliner at a party in Lake Worth at Bryant Park. There are about 10,000 people expected for this party.

HOW HAVE YOU GONE FROM BEING A LOCAL DJ TO GAINING NATIONAL PROMINENCE?

Well most of it has to do with George. He is the one in charge of all the marketing and he is working very hard to get me and my music out there. Marketing a DJ is not easy. George has to deal with a lot of people. There's a lot of negotiation back and forth. You just have to push it as hard as you can and never give up. Luckily, we have a great product that speaks for itself. One of the ways we've been really successful is through word of mouth. Most of the people that we have worked with outside of Florida were people we met at one of my gigs. A club owner or a promoter from another city might hear me spinning and want to bring me in.

IF PEOPLE CAN'T CATCH YOU HERE IN SOUTH BEACH, WHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY ARE YOU GOING TO BE SPINNING?

At the end of April, I am going to be in Atlanta spinning at a huge Gay Chorus Fundraiser. In May, I am scheduled to play in Boston at this club called Machine. It is a very upscale club and is really, really hot right now. I am also going to be spinning at the Saturday Pool party during Gay Days in Orlando in June. There's a lot of great work coming our way from all over the united States.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ANOTHER DJ PLAYING YOUR STUFF?

For sure! A lot of DJs have used my stuff. DJ Eddie X, Brett Henrichsen and Junior Vasquez are a few that I know for sure have used my music. I actually heard Junior play one of my tracks during his set at White Party. Brett also told me that he used one of my tracks at a huge event in Vancouver. It is really exciting when a big name DJ like that uses your stuff.

WHERE CAN WE CATCH YOU DURING THE WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE?

I'll be spinning at my usual Saturday gig, Social Miami at the Sagamore Hotel. I really enjoy spinning there. The crowd is so great, and it is such a chic and upscale venue. It's a very good mix of people. Gay, straight, trendy - you can pretty much spot anywhere there. It is such a fun play to play my music. I would definitely suggest for people visiting during Winter Music Conference to stop by and check it out.