Popular DJ and producer Ferry Corsten is set to perform in Bahrain during the Formula One weekend.
Corsten recently placed in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll for the seventh year in a row - making him the longest-standing Dutch pop artist in the poll.
He is performing tomorrow night and told the GDN he was looking forward to playing for a Bahrain crowd.
“I’m really looking forward to playing to a very different crowd,” said the 44-year-old.
“I’ve only been there (to Bahrain) once, while other countries around – like Dubai – have a scene going on that I’ve been part of a lot longer.
“It’s a new location for me, but also a good way to reach a whole different audience that I am not used to.”
Corsten has been on the international music scene since he was in his early 20s, when he released Out Of The Blue in 1999.
“That was basically the track that opened everything up for me,” he said. “Because of that I started travelling the world, although it wasn’t the beginning, it was the one that kick-started everything.”
With nearly two decades of music behind him, he is eager to gauge the crowd’s track preferences as he gets behind the decks tomorrow night.
“On the one hand I have a recent album and I have a project I’ve been working on, but at the same time I haven’t been there in years,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be a combination of the brand new stuff along with the classics that I guess a lot of my fans would expect me to play.”
He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s and 2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moonman, Pulp Victim and Gouryella.
In recent years, Corsten has shifted to a broader electronic music style, playing everything from progressive house to melodic trance.
Recently he partnered with VH1’s Save The Music Foundation for UNITY, where proceeds from collaborations and performances will go to help fund musical education for children.
“It’s one of those things that you look back at your career and realise you’ve had a lot of luck and a lot of fun,” said Corsten.
“Not everyone is so fortunate and when you hear music programmes are being pulled from schools, that’s one thing that gave me so much throughout my life and my career.
“This (UNITY) is a great programme to help kids play around with electronic music and production.”
To raise money for the project, Corsten will be releasing a series of collaborations with DJs from the trance genre every six to eight weeks throughout 2018.
He is playing in Bahrain at Coral Bay, which is also hosting Fatman Scoop on Friday night and Carlprit on Sunday.