Gilles Peterson (FR)

Starting off life as a club DJ, Gilles continues to spin regularly around the world. This year alone has seen him in Rio, Martinique, Tokyo, Havana and most parts of Europe as well as East London of course. As for the radio, his new 3-hour Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 6 Music has seen him take his unique musical mix to a new and growing audience of music lovers whilst the syndicated Worldwide radio show continues to spread his musical gospel… well, worldwide. From Sun-Ra to James Blake to Theo Parrish to Flying Lotus – if it swings in the right places, it’s in. From Acid Jazz to Talkin’ Loud and now Brownswood Recordings, Gilles’s work as an A&R, as a producer; as a remixer and, of course, as the curator of compilations only seems to intensify. His longstanding love affair with Cuba and its musical subcultures has manifested itself in five albums under the auspices of the “Havana Cultura” project. The latest of these excursions – ‘Mala in Cuba’ – released in September 2012, sent tremors (literally!) through the electronic underground.