By Yiota Demetriou
yiota.demetriou@bristol.ac.uk
Chaz Dabat is a Greek Cypriot music producer living in London. His family’s diverse cultural heritage and their musical influences provided him with the background to compose Eastern Mediterranean melodies and rhythms (combination of Cypriot, Greek and Arabic). He has fused this distinct quality of his sound into many of the pop acts he collaborates with, and has thus developed his own unique sound. As written in his IMBD profile: His first production for A1 records, for the artist Steve Walsh entered the charts at No. # 13. He then went on to produce his first album for Telstar records, “Party for the World”. His “Bamboleo mix” for the renowned bandGypsy Kings was the first version heard in the UK and was instrumental in their success. He popular musicians and bands such as: Culture Club, Mica Paris, Boy George, Eddie Grant, Yusuf Islam, Marcella Detroit, Herbie Hancock and Sammy Davis Jnr. Adding to all this Chaz now specializes in 5.1 audio mixing and is an approved DTS remixer, and has mixed acts like Pavarotti and James Brown in 5.1. His music has also been used in over 1000 TV series and movies. I knew of Chaz through family, as he was in a band with my late uncle Sugar – ‘Back in the day’, as they would say. He is close friends with my mother, and therefore kept hearing of his successes and watching his hilarious Cypriot parodies on Youtube. Following is an informal interview with Chaz, taken earlier this week:
YD: Hey Chaz, thank you for agreeing to this. I think it is important to showcase Cypriot’s work wherever we
live! It’s such an honour to let our readers have an insight into your amazing work. I know that you’ve worked with some amazing musicians and you have met some very famous people, but I’ll get to that. Can I ask, how did you get into all of this, how would one build this kind of widespread international network? What was your starting point?
CD: Thank you very much for asking me I am honoured! I don’t think you can break it down to a single formula; life is about a constant of choices… one thing will ultimately lead to another. I am sure if I wrote everything I did down and someone followed it, for them it will be different. I guess my starting point was my father. Like my dear friend, your uncle Sugar, my father was a Bouzouki player.So when I think of my childhood I remember sitting on a rehearsal room floor, while my father rehearsed with his band. To keep me quiet, he would hand me drumsticks, maybe a tambourine,and I slowly started joining in; that started at the age of 3 so I guess, I was an early beginner.
YD: I know from my mum, that in those days,being part of a closed Cypriot community in London meant that her parents were extremely strict when it came to, well, anything. How did your parents react when you decided to take on music as a profession? Could you talk to us about your first band, how your career went from there, the obstacles and difficulties you faced, if there were any?
CD: My family was not the normal Cypriot family. My parents already broke the mould by falling in love and eloping to the UK to get married on their own. However, everyone wants the best for their children and wants them to do better than they did. So my mother did have her dreams and aspirations for me, you know the classic ones: doctor, lawyer solicitor or accountant. My father wanted that too, although deep inside I think he helped and nurtured the music bug in me. He owned a club in London’s west end in the 70’s, and from the age of 9 I would sing there every Saturday Night. So while my schoolmates were doing a paper round to earn a few pennies, I was earning £5.00 singing in a West End club. Hardly the norm is it? However my mum wasn’t too pleased… (laughs) Since the age of 8, every year, I formed a new band at school to play for the morning assembly or school fetes. Through the years, I guess because there were so many I never really formed a real band that I ever thought was the definitive band I wanted to be in. I always got bored and wanted to do something different and better. So I became the guy that formed the bands and the first guy to leave them. The only band I ever really loved and in its field, which was successful was the Greek Wedding Band Spartacus, (as you know your late uncle Sugar was in too).That gave me good live grounding, that later helped when I started playing for the soul bands like:Heatwave, Rose Royce, Shalamaretc. 
YD: How did you feel after your first produced commission was aired? And now is it the same even though you have all this experience, how do you react when you hear something you have produced publicly?
CD: Hearing your track on the radio, TV or in a cinema never ever gets old. I still get a tingling feeling today. I don’t think this will ever change for me. It also reminds me to be grateful…
YD: I know you have produced for some big names but I’m a Jazz lover, so I’m really interested in hearing about your work with Herbie Hancock and of course the great Sammy Davis Jr?
CD: Equally they are legends. Herbie Hancock was a brief play on TV on the show Later With Jools, I was actually playing for Culture Club with Boy George. Jools Holland came into the band’s dressing room and said:“do you guys mind doing a track to open the show with all the bands. We will start with Herbie, then over to you guys”. Then he said:“who is the keyboard player here”, I held my hand up he said:“ok,Herbie will start and you will join him and we will take it from there on”. I was already starting to need a nappy at the very thought of it (laughs uncontrollably)… so Jools asked me to come to another room, where there were two upright pianos. I sat and played with Jools the track was Pick Up The Pieces. But here is the funny part and for me better than the show on TV! Jools got a call and left the room. So I continued Jamming on my own, then the door opened I didn’t look round, thinking it was one of our guys in the band, then someone sat next to me on the other piano, I looked round and it was none other than the man himself. He put his hand out and said: “Hi I’mHerbie”, and I just mouthed (overwhelmed): “I know”. He then said: “I really like your playing, do you mind if we jam together, I need to practice before we shoot”. I was really reluctant to do it, but I kept hearing every musician’s voice I have ever worked with in my life shouting:PLAY ITS HERBIE FOR GOD SAKE! So we jammed and we rehearsed for the show. Tick that in the memory bank (laughs)… When you work with so many icons and celebrities, as I do, you start to become immune and you’re not so start struck, but Herbie tingled the hairs on the back of my neck, in a musical way. The only other time that happened was with Cat Stevens or Yusuf Islam, as he is known now. Last year I also met one of my other icons in his dressing room and went out to dinner with him. The one and onlyChic Corea!My good friend and world-renowned percussionist HossamRamsy was coaxing me to go on stage and play with him. Chic said:“yes why don’t you come up Chaz”, he was doing one of his openperformances where other pianists join in, but that time I bottled it as it was in front of a massive live audience. Sammy was bitter sweet. NBC in America was making a Special on his life. There were no end to that man’stalent, he was given the title of the Godfather of Rap. In those days they called it ‘scatting’, he would rap and scat all over anything with a beat. So… the producer of the show asked me to find some raps in his repertoire and put it to a modern beat to bring it up to date, showing that the rap then and the rap of now were similar. So I took the track Rhythm Of Life from the movie Sweet Charity and beefed it up for the show. It was played in the credits and caused quite a storm.
YD: If I am not mistaken you have also recently produced something for Beyonce, right?
CD:I am currently working on something for Beyonce, JLo and Katherine Jenkins, how diverse is that? It’s in the making, so I can’t say more about that now, but details will follow.
YD: How does it all work, what’s the process like, I guess you are well-known in the industry and they just 
contact you, or are there other ways of getting your work heard? Do you have any advice for emerging producers?
CD: I have arrived to a point in my career that now I get the email or the phone call for the work. It took a long time to get here though. Previously I worked for a record company, a production company then producer agencies. You have to go through these levels of work to build up your name. However, the age of the Internet has changed a lot of the dynamics. Also the age of the computer means bedroom producers work on a laptop at the end of their bed and if you are talented enough can get amazing results. If you put a track up on YouTube and get enough hits, record companies will come to you. It helps to think outside the box too. I remember going to a very well known producer/agent, when I was starting out and I asked him to sign me. He said:“I can’t sign you because you have no hits”. So I said:“that’s what I need you for”. It was a catch 22 situation. So I said to him:“when record companies call here and ask for a producer, if all of your producers are busy or they don’t want to do the work, because they are not feeling the project; don’t say no, give it to me, off the record, and I will give you 20%”. We worked together for 3 years, and I built my work up so much that he gave an offer to finally join the company roster, but by then I had built up my own record company clients and didn’t need the offer.
YD: Have you ever produced anything for any Greek or Cypriot artists?
CD: I haven’t and I have been asked many times. I love my heritage especially our musical one, but unfortunately the royalty scheme in Greece and in Cyprus has been non-existent till only recently, when they have been trying to clean up their act. Funds are limited and record sales are bad in Greece. The singers make a lot of money singing live, but songwriters and producers barely make a wage. I have written a lot of music for TV & Film music for Greece, and there are TV shows on now with my music, but that’s a far as I have gone. Who knows, though, never say never… There is, however, a Turkish Artist, who has taken two of my tracks and has given them Turkish Lyrics, these coming out in soon.
YD: Would you go back to Cyprus?
CD: I don’t think I would like to go in my working life, but I would definitely like to go once I have retired. I want a house over looking the sea with a big white grand piano to play my days away. But work-wise, at the present time it has nothing for me there.
YD: On a humorous note… What is going on with all these parodies you keep making? Do they kick-start inspiration for greater works, if so maybe I should start doing that.
CD: Apart from my music I love comedy and I love making people laugh. I suppose whether it’s music or laughter they stir emotions in people, and I am a people type person. Also, YouTube being a powerful tool, I had to find a way to make it work for me. We live in the age where a click equals money. So if I put a new track up on my YouTube page, or a new project, how do I get traffic to it? Well it’s sex or comedy, or both fused together. So I found that if I get a few funny parodies up, or funny videos traffic comes quicker. So I use those as bait and then try and promote my other musical projects on the back of them. It works; my channel is only just a little shy of 50 million hits and has a YouTube partnership programme attached. So get working Yiota!
YD: Do you have a favourite music genre? And how do you feel about today’s popular music in comparison to the 70’s or 80’s for instance?
CD: Being a true musician I don’t subscribe to the: “they don’t make them like they used to’ brigade”. For me, it’s good or bad music, not old or new. Yes I love Frank Sinatra, but I also love EdSheeran. I Love the Stones, the Stereophonics. I like Rock ‘n’ Roll and Elvis, but I love classical music too. From Mozart’s music I learnt a lot about harmonic progression, voicing and blending of instruments. I alsoobserved the work ofManolisChiotis, so I can learn. You raise a very good point with your question Yiota…Because I have a theory about that. Everything we know is an accumulation of what we have been taught or exposed to in some way or another. It’s impossible to pin point a genre or a time that I like best. Music reminds people of something, and I guess, everyone actually confuses that emotion with the quality of music. For instance, everyone says they don’t make them like they used to and nearly 90% are referring to a time when they were 18, going out with their mates, having fun, being trouble free etc. So for every person that is a different era. That’s what my Granddad said, so did my dad, and my children will probably say the same. There is a great line in the original movie Arthur with Dudley Moore. This is not word for word but… as he was sitting in a restaurant, listening to a Cole Porter song or something like that he turned to his date and said, they don’t write them like that anymore, you know our kids one day will say the same for a song called “we were doing it in the park”.
YD: So I keep seeing photos of you on Facebook with all these celebrities, what’s going on???? Al Pacino, Stallone, Travolta, Quincy Jones and the list goes on…Is there something you’re not telling us? Is it part of your master plan as a vigilante out of DC comics? Perhaps work- related projects or is it just another day in the life of Chaz?
CD: “I like the vigilante bit” said DaBaT (laughs)…Well its slowly becoming another day in the life of Chaz (laughs). I was working on some film music and my sister who is a lawyer introduced me to a Film Producer namely Barry Navidi who was at the time producing a film starring Al Pacino. I expressed to him that I wanted to be involved with the project and Barry invited me to a few private screenings of some movies with Al. (Laughs) Yes I now call him Al! In conversation, Barry mentioned that he wanted to bring Pacino to London for an “Audience With” type project, much like Actors Studio, only open to the public. He asked, if I knew any promoters that would handle such an event. So I brought in my good friend promoter Rocco Buonvino to a meeting. I said that I would like to produce the live events. After the success of the first show with Pacino, we realised the public had a thirst for this type of show. So we started talking to other Hollywood superstars. That’s the history and the future is wide as we are planning bigger and better experiences.
YD: What are your future plans, and what should we look out for?Any advice for our generation that is just starting and are trying to go up in the world?
CD: Returning to the Greek subject, I would like to add that one of the biggest projects I have done so far and very close to my heart, is a project I have produced and written jointly with a great friend and probably one of the best bouzouki players of our time, Pavlos Doukanaris. The project is called DOUKKOSHI and it will be coming out later in the year. It has taken us two years to record (in between other projects), and is very much connected to our Greek roots. It encompasses many other genres of music too and it is mostly music-based but very filmic in score. It has been recorded in studios around the world and has many musical icons playing on it. It has been a labour of love for us both but totally worth every note. Watch this space! After the recent success of Jess Glynne of whom I produced I have been asked by an American Production label based in LA to join forces to sign similar UK based acts in the states. With this new prospect I will probably form a production company here in the UK to partner the American one. We are in talks as we speak. I have turned my talents to the written word now, as well, and I am writing my very own movie script. Incredibly, I also recently spoke to Disney about a pitch for them too, and will be seeing them also at the Disney studio in LA later this year. I guess the only real advice is to be true to yourself. Look for a career that you love, do what you love to do in it. I say this because to achieve your goals and your dreams, it takes dedication and perseverance. So if you choose something you love, you won’t ever get tired of it. But be ready to change your gameplans, diversify when you can! Unfortunately the arts or media-based careers are fraught with hurdles and you will need to develop thick skin. Through my career, I have taken a lot of punches and I know we all do, I will probably continue to receive them now and again,we live and learn everyday. But its how we recover from the punches that matters. As Batman said, “its how we get up from the fall that defines us”.
Chaz’s site: http://www.chazdabat.com/
