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Salute (musician)

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Salute
Birth nameFelix Angyumanu Nyajo
BornVienna, Austria
OriginManchester
Occupation
  • Musician

Felix Angyumanu Nyajo (known professionally as Salute, stylised as salute) is an Austrian producer based in England. They[a] first attracted attention for their remixes of Aaliyah's "Rock the Boat" and Sam Smith's "Money on My Mind," and they have released the EPs Gold Rush, Condition I, Condition II, Condition III, Ultra Pool, and Shield as well as the mini-album My Heart. They released their debut album, True Magic, in July 2024, which charted at No. 5 on the UK Dance Albums Chart.

Life and career

[edit]

Felix Angyumanu Nyajo[2] was born in Aspern[3] to a cab driver and a nurse and has an older brother. Their parents, who spoke Hausa,[4] moved there from Belgrade to escape the Yugoslav Wars after previously relocating from Nigeria in the early 1980s.[1] Growing up, their family would take regular trips to Colindale where Nyajo's cousin and their family lived.[1] They also regularly attended church service as their parents were Pentecostals.[5] While in Aspern, Nyajo suffered from regular racism and was stabbed aged 14 by a pair of racists.[3] They compiled their first works on their parents' computer[5] using a pirated copy of FL Studio they had obtained aged 13.[4]

Initially, Nyajo uploaded tracks to their SoundCloud account as "sxlute"[6] and began sharing music via Bandcamp in 2012.[6] Their first work to receive press attention was a remix of Aaliyah's "Rock the Boat". After a blog ran a piece on it, FM4 invited them in for an interview and then started playing their music.[5] Nyajo then began DJing when they were seventeen using FL Studio[1] and released the EP Lionheart in 2013.[7] After Capitol Records enlisted them for a remix of "Money on My Mind" by Sam Smith, they waited until the last possible minute to start on it and then imitated a remix Flume had just uploaded.[5] In a 2017 interview with Austrian Music Export, they stated that although it had got them "a lot of bookings and contacts at the beginning", they thought it was "pretty shit" and had "sworn never to do anything like that again".[3]

To escape the racism they were experiencing in Austria,[5] Nyajo moved to Brighton for university later in 2014,[1] where they studied music production and sound engineering.[8] They left the following year,[3] and in November 2015, they released the Gold Rush EP, which included "Colourblind" featuring Abra.[9] Nyajo then moved to Manchester with a friend in 2016[1] on the grounds that it was cheaper to live there.[3] After finding a dwelling next to Manchester Arena,[3] Nyajo released the mini-album My Heart.[4] In late 2017,[1] their grandmother and grandfather died.[10] Nyajo responded by producing a trio of EPs, Condition I, Condition II, and Condition III,[4] which came out between 2018 and 2019.[11] In an April 2019 interview with Vice, they described the EPs as consisting of "memories", "pain and feeing shitty" [sic], and "hope".[4]

In May 2018, they contributed keyboards and programming for Charli XCX's "5 in the Morning".[12] They released the EPs Ultra Pool and Shield in August 2022[13] and May 2023. Shield was their first to include their own vocals[14] and charted at number 12 on the Official Vinyl Singles Chart the following October.[15] Shield included "Run Away With You", which featured No Rome, "Feels Like My Hands Are On Fire", which was co-produced by George Daniel, and "Peach" with Sammy Virji,[14] a producer who released a remix of Piri & Tommy's "On & On".[16] In December 2023, Nyajo was nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Act at the 2024 MOBO Awards.[17] The following July, Nyajo released the album True Magic, a concept album based on the concept of racing Japanese cars.[18] The album featured contributions from Rina Sawayama, Karma Kid, Disclosure, Sam Gellaitry, なかむらみなみ [Wikidata], Empress Of, Léa Sen, Piri, and Leilah,[19] most of whom were friends of theirs.[20] It charted at number 5 on the UK Dance Albums Chart.[15]

Personal life

[edit]

In March 2022, Nyajo announced that they would be introducing an inclusion rider to their contracts for live performances.[5] It required that at least one act on any lineup they were performing on should be from an underrepresented group approved by them, such as female, Black, queer, or genderqueer.[21] If a promoter did not adhere to this, Nyajo would not play the show.[22] Explaining themselves to Billboard in July 2024, they stated the following:

I was playing a show in Newcastle in the north of England, and I got there and every DJ on the lineup was white and male. It wouldn’t have been an issue for me if they were good DJs, but pretty much everyone sucked. They were like, really bad. Basically, the promoter had just booked his best friends to play. I was there [thinking] like, “So many of my girl mates, so many of my queer mates, so many of my Black mates would have absolutely killed this night.” But it’s just kind of how it is, where a promoter will just book his mates rather than booking a good DJ. I got back to my hotel and texted my agent like, “I want to make sure that I am performing among more people who look like me, and among more people who are nonbinary and trans, etc.” I found a template for an inclusion rider online, and it basically stipulates that 30% of the lineup of any stage I play on has to be from an underrepresented group, and has to be approved by me.[20]

Nyajo first became interested in production after hearing the Sonic Rush soundtrack, taking further inspiration coming from the SSX Tricky and FIFA Street 2 soundtracks.[1] In 2013, they were taking influence from Rustie, James Blake, Hudson Mohawke, soul music, and 1990s hip hop music.[6] In an interview with Austrian Music Export in April 2023, they noted that they were inspired to institute their inclusion rider after seeing a "couple of people in America" institute similar conditions.[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ Nyajo is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "salute: feel good philosophy". DJMag.com. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  2. ^ "NYAJO FELIX ANGYUMANU". ASCAP. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Export, Austrian Music (29 August 2017). ""Felix 21, High Top, Still From Vienna" – An interview With Salute". Austrian Music Export. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e Jones, Daisy (30 April 2019). "salute Is Making Us Fall in Love with UKG All Over Again". Vice. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Yaeger, Philip (19 April 2023). ""Nothing Scares Me Anymore" – the salute Interview". Austrian Music Export. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b c harmonicait. "Introducing: The Dancefloor-to-Headphones Music of salute". Complex. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Salute". Austrian Music Export. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  8. ^ MusicRadar Tech (19 July 2024). salute: "Pop-influenced dance music is amazing; that's always been a part of my sonic identity.". Retrieved 23 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ "The opulent promise of salute". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  10. ^ "salute releases final EP 'Condition III' of EP trilogy • WithGuitars". Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Gorgon City, salute, Moxie, BAMBII, Sally C and GIDEÖN to join BBC Radio 1's Residency". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  12. ^ 5 in the Morning by Charli XCX on Apple Music, 31 May 2018, retrieved 18 December 2023
  13. ^ "salute shares new single 'Wait For It' via Ninja Tune's Technicolour imprint: Listen". DJMag.com. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b Rodriguez, Krystal (18 May 2023). "Ahead Of Their EDC Las Vegas Debut, Rising DJ/Producer Salute Talks New EP 'Shield' and Taking Their 'Fast, Soulful House Music' Worldwide". Billboard. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  15. ^ a b "SALUTE". Official Charts. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  16. ^ "BBC Radio 1 - Radio 1's Future Dance with Sarah Story, Charlie Tee sits in". BBC. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Nominees revealed for MOBOs Best Electronic/Dance act supported by BEMA & Mixmag". Mixmag. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  18. ^ Bloom, Madison; Corcoran, Nina; Monroe, Jazz (12 July 2024). "10 Albums Out This Week You Should Listen to Now". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  19. ^ "salute Announces New Album, Shares New Song Featuring Rina Sawayama: Listen". Stereogum. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  20. ^ a b Bain, Katie (11 July 2024). "20 Questions With Salute: On Their Debut LP & Inclusion Riders Making Lineups 'Less Tokenistic & More Like Promoters Give a F–k'". Billboard. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  21. ^ "few words about an inclusion rider i will be adding to my show contracts from now on. i'm doing this publicly because it would be great to see other djs get involved too xx". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Meet the Artists that are Changing the Direction of DJ Riders". Beatportal. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
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