Days of Genius Past: Sasha's Da Vinci Genius - The Echoes Interview

In the Echoes Podcast, the spirit of Leonardo Da Vinci transformed into electronic sound by DJ and producer Sasha. Da Vinci Genius is an immersive exhibit on the life of the Renaissance polymath. Sasha created a score that ranges from orchestrally cinematic to electronically grooving.  You won’t find the Renaissance music of Da Vinci’s era here.

Sasha: We did try taking kind of our modern instruments, our modern melodies and putting them onto kind of medieval instruments, but it ended up sounding like a bit of a pastiche, you know? The show itself is very technological and future-facing.

So is the music.

Sasha is a renowned DJ and record producer. He began his career in the late 1980s, playing acid house music, and rose to prominence in the 1990s through his partnership with fellow DJ John Digweed. Together, they produced influential mix albums like Renaissance: The Mix Collection and the Northern Exposure series, significantly shaping the progressive house and trance genres.  As a solo artist, Sasha has released notable albums, including Airdrawndagger and Scene Delete. He has also remixed tracks for artists such as Madonna, Moby, and The Chemical Brothers. He was voted World No. 1 DJ in 2000 by DJ Magazine and receiving a Grammy nomination for his remix of Felix da Housecat’s “Watching Cars Go By.”  He released a beautiful ambient compilation, The EmFire Collection, that included his score to the surfing movie, New Emissions of Light and Sound.

Sasha talks about sculpting a soundtrack that finds Da Vinci in the future he helped create in the Echoes Podcast.