Gideon Berger (GB)
GIDEÖN has a background in music spanning 36 years. In addition to his studio practice as a recording artist, his work as a creative director, stage designer and curator, he is also a touring DJ and an avid collector of vinyl. Since his first set of turntables in 1990, GIDEÖN has devoted his life to collecting vinyl from the US, Jamaica, Latin America, Africa, and the UK. He specialises in Northern Soul, Latin, Reggae, Gospel, and Disco rarities. House Music, above all else, is his first and greatest love.
Gideon sits on the board of Queer Nightlife Community Centre, New York. He is currently Creative Director of a new opera being developed in partnership with English National Opera. He has a degree in Music with Visual Practice (BA Hons) and was guest Creative Director of Music for the London Borough of Culture 2022.
Recent studio projects have seen Gideon as creative director on Together for Palestine at Wembley Arena, and as artistic lead on Dua Lipa’s Studio 2054, winning the MVA’s Music Video of the Year. He was production designer for lead artists at Live at Worthy Farm, Glastonbury’s virtual festival livestream.
As a curator, he programmed two events for both Harry Styles’ Meltdown and Chaka Khan’s Meltdown Festival at The Southbank Centre and is currently Head of Music at The Roof Gardens in London. Other projects include work with Banksy, Jessie Ware, Robyn, Groove Armada, Leslie Lohman Museum(New York), Imperial War Museum, Choose Love, Finnish Opera House, Lana Del Ray, Skrillex, BrianEno, Honey Dijon and Anohni.
GIDEÖN co-founded, co-directs and curates Block9’s festival nightlife institutions The NYCDownlow, Genosys, Maceo’s and IICON at Glastonbury Festival. He is also resident and co-booker at London’s hottest queer club night Adonis. As a radio DJ, GIDEÖN has been actively involved in broadcasting for over three decades. Since cutting his teeth on London’s pirate stations in the late nineties, he hosted a weekly show on London’s Soho Radio for 3 years. Recent guest appearances include New York’s Beats In Space, London’s Rinse FM, The Lot Radio, NTS Radio and BBC 6 Music. He recently held a residency at BBC Radio 1.
GIDEÖN has been involved in political activism his entire life and is now increasingly focused on organising hybrid cultural-political events partnering music and protest, often under the banner of R3 Soundsystem. Together with charities Love Music Hate Racism & Stand Up To Racism, GIDEÖN has organised major sound system interventions on many of the Stop Brexit and Stop Trump and Anti-Fascism protests. He is actively involved with fundraising for several LGBTQ+, human rights and social justice organisations including AllOut, Medical Aid For Palestinians, PrEPster, Human Dignity Trust and Refugee Community Kitchen. GIDEÖN sits on the advisory committee for The Right to Dance, part of War Child’s NGO Network.
R3 Soundsystem is a consortium of DJs, musicians, producers, record labels, festivals, nightclubs, sound systems, activists, and cultural organisations, all united by love of music and the rejection of right-wing nationalist values. R3’s three Rs stand for RESIST/REJECT/REVOLT.
GIDEÖN’s House Music label HOMO-CENTRIC RECORDS launched to showcase both his solo productions and collaborations with close queer comrades. The label focuses on the LGBTQ+ heritage of House and attempts to pay homage to its lost heroes. Its manifesto states the intent to re-establishthe lines of queer musical tradition at the heart of House, lost to AIDS and the capitalist desecration of dance music itself.