Today’s the last day of Iceland’s Airwaves, which I haven’t attended or written about, but you can check out the soon-to-disappear Soma FM’s own radio station. Yet today’s broadcast, boys and girls, is about something completely different. Back in 2007, when it started as a Canada-only contest, nobody could have predicted that Red Bull Thre3style (#RB3style) would grow into the largest DJ competition on the planet. This year there's a Romanian among them: DJ Undoo.

This is a heavily sponsored event – most media outlets write about it with a “sponsored content” label. I’m not getting paid (as I’ve never gotten for any of the articles on this blog), I’m writing it because I felt the need for a break from serious articles, such as the one about a Romanian priest accused of sexual assault and my [non]-religious journey. I was going to write next about some of my more “spiritual experiences”, but I found that hard, so this is a welcome break.

It makes sense to write about Romanian music and artists in Toronto in general – I wrote in the past about Timpuri Noi (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Shantel, Balanescu Quartet, Gojira and even Adrian Enescu and Holograf & Compact (though, for the latter, not in the context of having made it to Toronto).

Note that the “oo” ending is quite popular with Romanians (the troll-in-chief here is one Blegoo) and is most likely of French extraction. As it is customary on this blog, there’ll be lots of soundbites, which will open on the right – hover with your mouse to see more details.

Here’s how the competition’s gonna go down:

The concept is simple but challenging, even for experienced mixers. Each DJ has only 15 minutes [hosted at Mixcloud] to impress judges, and must span at least three genres of music within that time. While competitors can use laptops, they aren’t allowed to use that handy sync button to cheat and must use the supplied turntables or CD decks to beat-match.  (nowt)

Who are the DJs?

(..) the public gets to pick the brains of big-name talents like A-Trak (Bonnaroo, Shambala, Money Makin’) and DJ Jazzy Jeff, and also watch turntablists like Kid Koala [1h, ‘8 bit Blues] rock the decks up close. Canadian champ Adam Doubleyou has stiff competition from Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and beyond. (nowt)

The press has highlighted mostly DJ Inferno from Jamaica on his second try at the world’s, Eskey83 from .de – the first Thre3style champ, and DeeJay RayRay from .tw, a chick bringing “a classic jazz-influenced hip-hop vibe” and a possible fondness for Hello Kitty merchandise. As for our very own DJ Undoo – not much, even though on the DJs page he’s listed second, right after the Canadian Adam Doubleyou. Maybe he hasn’t got the coin to spend on media campaigns, or maybe nobody really trusts he’s gonna win. The lack of coverage is certainly not for lack of social networking skills on his part: apart from his website, djundoo.ro, he’s got profiles on YouTube, Mixcloud, Myspace, soundcloud, discogs, fb, twitter, grooveshark, whosampled, and even LinkedIn as Alexandru Damian Mihaila.

What about his music and/or collaborations? Straight from YouTube where, apart from his channel, he’s got his own playlist: Nemesis ft Catalin (COMA), Parada, Epoca de haur, Nemesis-orig, , ain’t fast food, hhb, DMConln, vibeFM, inPatcuEa, artskul, First, Silent Strike, ArsPoetica, GnomGraff, raku, Deceneu, RoAuTa.

From its website, the DJ competition does not benefit from the most literate copywriters. Spaces are all over the place but sometimes not after a comma, and, a bit further down, this history:

LE: (This image alone: http://goo.gl/UkQUce)

Reading the above, I couldn’t help wondering if it isn’t proof that coffee will make you more alert and, concentrated, might give you wings, but it won’t make you any smarter..

LE: After attending the first night (1, 2, 3; seemingly won by the Chileano), here's who's next

World Finals Night 2 with Jazzy Jeff vs Skratch Bastid plus Starting from Scratch, Four Color Zack and Hedspin
Countries: ROMANIA vs Croatia vs Germany vs Japan
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 9PM
Virgin Mobile Mod Club, 722 College St West, Toronto, Canada
Facebook Event

Good luck, DJ Undoo!

Sources / More info: fb, nowt, blto