Monthly TFM Radio interview: Robert Gitelman.



01 TFM Radio: Robert, thank you for your time. You started your deejay career at 14 and started in a club in Israel 3 years later. When did you make up your mind in becoming professional and how hard was it, coming from Israel?

Robert Gitelman: Becoming professional wasn’t a thing I decided but something that I rolled into and just happened. When you start deejaying at a young age in clubs and people start to demand your music because it's good, one thing is leading to another and that's how I have become to what I am today, my job is to make my crowd happy, and when they are happy, I'm happy too. I don’t think there is any connection between my creation of music and country I'm coming from, music is something which is international especially the trance community in the world, that is not to choose to listen to deejays by the country they are coming from but by the love for the music they create.


02: TFM Radio: Not many people in Europe may know the club life in Israel. Can you tell us a bit about it? What is the main music, who are the “heroes” and how do people from Israel party? Is it different because of the “political” problems and people need a way to relax maybe even more in a way?

Robert Gitelman: I think the club life in Israel are just like in any place else in Europe, people from Israel love to party like in anywhere else in the world. Since I've played in a lot of clubs in Israel and all over the world I can say that playing to the Israeli people is something that I enjoy a lot, and there's also a lot of deejays all over the world that can spare this feeling to the crowd in Israel with me and that’s because the Israelis are warm people who love to treat artists favorably, even deejays that the admiration for them started here, deejays like Tiesto, Rene, Armin and a much others.
The only difference in the club scene in Israel from the club scene on Europe is that most of the parties are taking place in clubs and not outside (like outdoor festivals etc) and that’s because the security condition can’t permit it and that’s a shame.
The main music in Israel are like anywhere else like there is hip hop, pop, house and trance, a sub genre that is maybe less common in Europe but is very successful here in Israel and in other countries like Brazil and Japan is the Psy-Trance that most of his artist are Israelis. There are a lot of big names that come from Israel, names like Astrix, Infeced Musroom, Astral projection, Offer Nissim, Yahel and much more.



03 TFM Radio: In your radio show at TotaalFM you play both house and trance music. Not many deejay combine those 2 styles in 1 radio show. Most of the time it’s like, you love only 1 of the 2 styles. How come that you do this?

Robert Gitelman: It's very simple, I love music. House is a relative of Trance, and as if in a party so it is on my radio show, I start the show with low bpm tunes and advancing slowly to higher bpm's. You need to interest the listener so he will keep listening and that's the right way to do it in my opinion.



04: TFM Radio: Talking about those 2 styles, most people know you mainly from your trance releases and remixes, both solo and along with Michael Tsuckerman. Where does your heart go out for more, house or trance (or do you find something in the middle with progressive) and why?

Robert Gitelman: I'm more of a trance person than house, all my life it was trance music that I liked the most and that's because a good trance track makes me get all excited more than anything else.


05: TFM Radio: You produced not only under your own name, but also under other aliases like: G&M Project, 2 Players, Jaron Inc, Taze and Dj Robert. Does this give you more freedom to experiment with different sounds or does it serve another purpose?

Robert Gitelman: At that time I produced under all of that aliases because my purpose was to release as many tracks as possible and since the record companies cant release a track each month under the same name, I released tracks under many names so more tracks could be release in a short time.



06: TFM Radio: Can you tell us what you use for producing? Do you have your studio at home, or somewhere else? And with producing, how does a track gets borne if Robert Gitelman is working?

Robert Gitelman: I work with a few studios, some of them work with Cubase and some with Logic, anyway I don’t think it's matter what equipment an artist is working with, as long as you know to produce, cause that's what really matters and it's your tunes that you create that makes people love your music. I don’t have a lot of time to produce in the present like I had in the past because I'm working a lot, that's why I don’t have other aliases now and I release tracks only under my own name of Robert Gitelman. My purpose now is to create tracks that will become a classic and no more tracks that people will forget two weeks after they are released.



07: TFM Radio: You joined TFM Radio in a pretty early stage of their existence. When did you decide to join them at first and what dose playing at TFM radio mean for you in general?

Robert Gitelman: I don’t remember exactly when I decided to join TFM Radio, but I do remember that I've been listening to your radio and I liked the kind of music that was broadcasting and I thought that I could contribute my music to your listeners too. Playing at TFM radio for me is first of all a lot of fun and pleasure. Since I have played before in radio stations and even had a chance to manage one of the biggest radio station in Israel, I can say that the radio bug was always in me and it's a thing that do not leave you, I always had much love and appreciation to radio and I will always have.

08: TFM Radio: Trance music is evolving more and more to all kind of new directions. Progressive, energetic, uplifting and more.
What do you think of all those sub-styles and where do you think, it will take us?

Robert Gitelman: For me, all that sub styles are the same. Some of them are low bpm styles and some are high, what really means to me is that the track will excite and that the production will interest me. That’s why I will play any good track if I love it, no matter what kind of genre is it, and that's because I know the listener doesn’t care about the genre of the track either, but if it’s any good, or not, and if they love to hear it or not. It's like food, you don’t care about the origin of what you eat, as long as it taste good.
And for your last question, well I really don’t know to where the trance music will keep evolving, but I hope that I will be there to enjoy and experience the next thing. One thing is sure that melody will stay forever.





09: TFM Radio: At the moment at some places in the world, trance is really big, and in other parts it “over the top”. Lot’s of new and fresh names appear with fresh tracks, a lot of them from the former Soviet Union, Poland, The Ukraine and so on. What do you think of that, and what do you think of the latest releases in general?

Robert Gitelman: I am very pleased and happy that trance music is taking over all over the world, and I can say that, as a deejay and a radio person, it doesn’t really matter for me from what country the artist that I’m playing come from, but if the track is good or not, like I mentioned earlier. I think the main problem with these new names you are talking about is that most of them are sometimes too young and they aren't experienced enough. They have talent but not always know how to use it well, they're releasing a lot of tracks with an unpolished sound and you can hear that the person behind the track is new. As a deejay, that receives a large amount of tracks every week, and choose to play only about 10 tracks from hundreds I receive, I think it says something about the trance scene today and a lot of other deejays can testify about that problem. It's good to have a lot of new producers because it's refreshing the market, and I enjoy supporting these producers, but it's important to know that many of them are flooding the market with music that is not good enough.
I think it's better to wait before releasing a track and make it as good as you can, to get some opinions about it in local parties, events etc, and only then releasing the track, when it's good enough to catch on and not to disappear after a few days of playing, that’s at least my aspect on this subject.

10: TFM Radio: Finally, where do you see yourself in 10 years, or where are you hoping for?

Robert Gitelman: I got no clue where I will be in 10 years, but I hope I will keep playing and creating music and keep making people happy with my music all the time, because that’s the reason I think I exist for, to make people feel good everywhere in the world, as work as hard as I can.


We want to thank Robert very much for his time he did share with us.

Robert Gitelman and his radio show can be heard twice per week at TFM Radio.
Part 1, the Trance part at Thursday 12 – 1 pm.
Part 2, the house and clubby part, Saturdays from 9 – 10 pm.



TotaalFM interviewer: ArCee.

Robert Gitelman - Milestone (original mix) is awesome!

Awesome interview... thumbs up for Robert! huge trance ppl!

I do believe this is 1 of our more interesting interviews indeed. Robert clearly knowes what he's talking about without a doubt, and his vision at the dance scene is very interesting.
Than again, with such a past and experience, you must know all about the dance scene!!