Rocket to the Future: Alegria Musica, Summer Edition 2009

First of all: Welcome to the USA, Mr. Renato Cecin! And please-make New York your second home! What a Cecin-sational debut! What an introduction to the Alegria family! Burning hot, this man from S�o Paulo, this Mr. Renato Cecin, took the entire Alegria family on an intergalactic cosmic rocket ride fueled by relentless beat mixing and an escalating energy level that sent the boyz into overdrive-for the entire duration of Cecin's four-hour set. A marvel to behold and a joy to be a part of, this was one of those legendary sets that make you glad you were in the house.

This was Alegria Musica, Summer Edition, 2009-and producer Ric Sena promised a renewed focus on music-and that's what was delivered, par excellence. Since 1996, when Cecin returned to Brazil from Vienna, Cecin has held residencies at S�o Paulo's uber-club, The Week, as well as X-Demente and Level Club. Cecin has clearly paid his dues-and can rightfully claim the mantle of one of Brazil's most prominent deejays-but that was just his background. To watch the man work and to feel the energy heating up like a house afire, flames licking the walls, was to take flight on musical currents that lifted and soared, and churned with a charging intensity. This was music of the urban future, a highly elaborate layering of North and South American tribal, house, and progressive house from a representative of the most populous city in the southern hemisphere. What Cecin did with "I Believe," for example, or "I Need a Man" was to create a hypnotic musical tapestry of overlaying textures, weaving in a haunting Spanish guitar, at one point, in the midst of cacophony-with everything ringing like a clarion call to celebrate. If this was new music, music of the future, bring it on!

Joyful abandon with a maestro of release

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Everywhere you looked, all around the jam-packed club M2, it was clear you were witnessing the distilled essence of joy. Joyful abandon at the hands of a maestro of release. These people were working! There was the inimitable and bodacious Holly Goheavy on the box, and fashionista circuit twins Chris and Eddie on the box, and ferocious diva Inda Matrix working the railing, and Michael Circuit Dancer working his poi, and Joe Caro working his blue laser, and Alex and James sporting spiffy suspenders, the sartorial detail du jour, and a whole bevy of the flyest girls, totally fun girls, and boyz, boyz, boyz-such a toothsome array of Brazilian beauties and New York hotties, stunners everywhere you looked. And smiling beneficently, joy all over his face, was Ric Sena-clearly thrilled at the crowd's immediate embrace of Mr. Renato Cecin (and at the news that Alegria Wonderland, happening concurrently in Lauderdale, was equally sizzling).

And lights-by Stephen Wyker-who, at one point, created a gorgeous tableau of red, white, and blue, which illuminated the boyz along the sidelines, making their silhouettes as iconographic as an A&F billboard. And as the lighting rig lowered, the ALEGRIA ball flashed a profusion of rainbow color.

A groundswell of cheers and applause

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In truth, words can't do this party justice. It was all about being there, completely there-enthralled to the music, breathless with body rushes as the giddy galloping rhythms encircled the room. And when Cecin's set ended at eight am with a groundswell of cheers and applause, there was Paulo to keep it going. A Portugese by birth, Paulo is as relentless as Cecin had proven himself to be at his inaugural Alegria-and the two men were perfect complements. Paulo took the baton and burned it hotter, all through the morning and into the afternoon.

Sena himself has said that Alegria Labor Day is one of his personal favorites-and after last night's Alegria Musica, few would argue. There might be something cathartic about the end of one season and the start of another-the return to the city and its propulsive rhythms-and certainly, last night's exemplary roster of deejays grabbed hold of New York's legendary and indefatigable energy and twisted it into their own red-hot creation, making this Alegria a benchmark for sheer musicality. For in the end, that's what this party did best: it took flight and soared.