Mark-Henning at Shanti

This Thursday, November 27, the club 'Shanti' will host the Comma party, with Berlin guest Mark-Henning headlining – the new star of the Soma label. Mark Henning Sargent, or simply Mark Henning, the son of an Englishman and a German, grew up in the UK, but absorbed the musical traditions of both 'historical homelands.' On one hand, he was passionate about drum and bass and indie rock, while on the other hand, young Mark was drawn to techno – funky bass, the shimmer of synthetic percussion, and dark futuristic landscapes. Eventually, this passion prevailed, and Mark began producing his own tracks and performing DJ sets in clubs (his repertoire covered a wide range of music from deep house to techno). Mark Henning juggled music (which became increasingly dominant in his life) with a 9-to-5 job in one of London's offices for quite a while. But in the end, creativity won out, and the musician moved to Berlin. By that time, Mark Henning was already well-known in the continental techno community: he had releases on German Freude Am Tanzen and French Frankie Records. Mark's sound was not harsh, but it was far from the sunny lightness typically associated with deep house and sometimes techno. Mark Henning's tracks sounded dark and hypnotic – his weapons were atonal chords and looping percussion sequences. Focusing on music, Mark Henning embarked on a flurry of activity: he founded his own non-profit net-label Clever Music, as well as released a series of records with labels like Cologne's Trapez, Canada's Cynosure, and America's Found Sound. Mark also caught the attention of his peers – his tracks fit well in the sets of DJs such as Craig Richards, Brett Johnson, Akufen, Fumiya Tanaka, Ricardo Villalobos, and Richie Hawtin. But his main achievement was signing a contract with the Scottish Soma Quality Recordings. In the world of dance music, Soma is considered almost major – the label has been operating for over fifteen years, having introduced Daft Punk to the world. The result of Mark Henning's collaboration with Soma is the just-released album 'Jupiter Jive,' tracks from which will be heard at the musician's performance in Moscow. Also sharing the stage with the headliner will be representatives of the Russian electronic scene Abelle & Beekeeper, Timque, and 11.8. www.myspace.com/djmarkhenning→