MALA

Music, energy, culture and collaboration: Born and raised in South London, Mala has played a pioneering role in UK music since the turn of the century. Stirring dubstep’s musical melting pot with its most primal ingredients before it even had a name, Mala was a founding member of DMZ, the crew behind some of modern bass music’s most influential dances and the most highly prized 12” vinyls the movement has witnessed. 20 years on, the man behind the agenda setting label Deep Medi Musik, Mala has continued to develop the UK bass music blueprint, encouraging creative compositions from genre-affirming artists like Skream, Swindle, Silkie, Commodo, Calibre, Goth-Trad, Truth, Kahn, Egoless, Bukez Finezt and Sir Spyro, whose ‘Topper Top’ became one of grime’s most iconic tracks. Mala has created 3 critically acclaimed and forward thinking albums to emerge out of the UK bass music in the last decade. ‘Return II Space’ on DEEP MEDi MUSIK and thanks to Giles Peterson’s: ‘Mala In Cuba’ & ‘Mirrors’ (on Brownswood Records), explorations in collaborating, vibing and spiritually connecting with gifted musicians across South and Central America; blending, embracing and translating their art as he channels his own creative flow from places and energies unknown, these albums are truly singular experiences that join dots and make parallels between seemingly disparate worlds. Beyond the albums are the seminal record releases (and countless dubs): ‘Changes’, one of the most iconic, haunted and cult compositions in modern electronica was remixed by Grammy Award winner James Blake and sampled by The Game and XXXTentacion on ‘Holy Water’ and ‘Look At Me’ respectively. ‘ Mala’s influence on contemporary music expands well beyond the confines of the speaker stack as is reflected with his remixes of the most iconic names across the last four generations of music; Grace Jones, Sade, Moritz Von Oswald, Lee Scratch Perry, Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Last Poets, Greentea Peng, Jorja Smith, Nina Kravits, Idris Elba and counting. More of these moments include John Peel playing Mala dubplates on Radio 1, Mary Anne Hobbs inviting Mala and peers to propagate the paradigm with Dubstep Warz, Akala requesting Mala to score his powerfully on-point TV-adapted theatre show 'The Ruins Of Empires', alongside Paul Gladstone-Reid and not forgetting 23 of his original productions performed by a 32 piece Orchestra in the prestigious Royal Festival Hall (SouthBank Centre). Decades deep and still at the very forefront, Mala remains in demand. Fusing frequencies, bringing people together and inspiring a whole new generation of talent: nurturing and developing a culture that continues to drive the most exciting corners of electronic music. To be continued...