DJ Jonay says that he spent all day listening to music in his room and that his mother repeated that phrase (very motherly) “Turn off that, you have me crazy.” Jonay Amador was one of the many children who grew up in the 80s in Tenerife hanging on the radio and dreaming in a musical key. At the age of 11 he bought his first vinyl record and today he has around 18,000.
He received his first “salary” as a disc jockey when he was only 13 years old and he affirms that “my older brother took me to a party and they paid me to do what I liked”. They gave him 2,000 pesetas —around 12 euros— for playing those vinyls and little by little he understood that music was going to form an important part of his life.
Today that boy who only stopped at school and in a small local radio station, is 43 years old and celebrates his 30th anniversary! behind the dishes. Three decades have passed since those first 2,000 pesetas.
The Rave Kulture in Plenilunio Santa Cruz
One of the stops of this year of celebrations is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The extensive Plenilunio program reserves an important section for DJ Jonay and his initiative The Rave Kulture. The agenda begins on Saturday at 12:00 pm on the esplanade of Avenida Marítima with a talk by Sonia Castro Riquelme and continues at 1:00 pm with the Be DJ School initiative. As of 5:00 p.m., the sessions begin, without a solution of continuity until 10:00 p.m., when DJ Jonay will start playing. In total, from noon to almost midnight, it will be 11 hours revolving around his 30th anniversary. We have spoken with Jonay Amador, a few hours away from bringing his musical and cultural universe to the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
At the age of 13, in the early 1990s, he received his first “salary” as a disc jockey. Two years earlier, he had bought his first vinyl record. Today it has about 18,000
Jonay, what can’t we miss in Plenilunio?
Difficult to answer, we will have a talk by the psychologist Sonia Castro about the importance of music in our lives; workshops with Sergio González to show how to play with vinyl and digital and see the differences between the two. And then, starting at 5pm, a bunch of great artists like Avero, Beat Creator, 2 Fanatics, Kruger, Roger and Master Chic. I wouldn’t miss anything…
30 years of DJ Jonay. Impossible to imagine for that 13-year-old boy what awaited him 3 decades later.
Totally impossible, I never even imagined being a DJ. I started collecting records in 1991, but 1993 was the first time I was paid to play at a party. I believe that my professional career begins there. We are simply here talking 30 years later and I can only say over and over again thank you for everything to each and every person who has been there for these 30 years.
Were you really going to retire and the pandemic made you change your mind?
Yes, totally, I had it decided 100%. I had the plan and I did it: on the 25th anniversary it was my last session and then I continued with my brand The Rave Kulture but then the pandemic came and life changed for all of us… Those days of confinement we did live on the networks and the love of people made me change my mind. Now I try to return all that love with music and my events. I don’t know how long I’ll last as DJ Jonay because 30 years at night is 30 years, but The Rave Kulture remains for a while.
Plenilunio Santa Cruz dedicates 11 hours of its programming on Saturday, April 1 to The Rave Culture, the universe created by DJ Jonay, with DJ workshops, talks and sessions
This year we will also see a documentary about those 30 years and the evolution of Rave culture in Tenerife… When will it be released?
It will be during 2023, but there is still no definitive date. The documentary is about the Rave culture and the importance that Tenerife had in its development in the late 80s and early 90s. Above all, we focus on the style Breakbeat Hardcore called today Oldskool. I will also have the opportunity to appear in it. It is a project together with Gaveta Producciones directed by Eduardo Cubillo.
An unavoidable date
“Celebrating the 30th anniversary of DJ Jonay on stage and doing it within the framework of Plenilunio Santa Cruz is a source of pride for the capital of Tenerife and represents an opportunity to listen again to one of the Canarian artists with the greatest impact”, as he described it. the CEO of the Development Society, Alfonso Cabello, who explained that “with the aim of proposing activities and spaces for all audiences, we have considered it opportune to commemorate this anniversary on Avenida Marítima and in which numerous artists will participate, while We will develop different complementary actions for 11 hours”.
In this sense, the mayor stressed that “next Saturday, April 1, will be a very full day, in which there will be talks, workshops and numerous performances that will make us enjoy and remember past times” and added “we are sure that it will be one of the points with the greatest influx of public.
The complete program of activities, as well as the rest of the information related to Plenilunio Santa Cruz can be consulted on the web www.pleniluniosantacruz.com.
“Full Moon Santa Cruz 2023” is sponsored by Fundación Cepsa, Sanitas, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen and CaixaBank; in addition to the Government of the Canary Islands and Promotur Turismo Canarias, with European funds REACT and FEDER.
