Recently I connected with Ramon Rawsoul and had a great conversation.
Chicago's own and House In The Park's Founder, Ramon Rawsoul is focused on festival life..
With everything that's going on and the Pandemic still in the air, Ramon has been staying busy with work, traveling, and his new hobby of riding motorcycles. Now that the seasons are changing and spring is here, it's that time of year and planning is in motion for House In The Park.
How are things coming along for you?
Ramon: You know there are some challenges lately and we're working through them. We’ve been producing this festival for 18 years and pride ourselves in doing things the right way, which has set the foundation for the people who make the decisions. Luckily, we have allies in the City of Atlanta in the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Mayor is a fan of Urban Entertainment. He's a fan of House In The Park. I’m certain we will be able to overcome any obstacles and hurdles this year.
Last year, you were stepping out even in the midst of the Pandemic. I thought it was a sensational day. What are your thoughts about House In The Park 17?
Ramon: It was surprising. I was nervous up until probably the Wednesday before because I didn't think people were going to show up because of all the uncertainty about Omicron as it was just coming out. And so I thought people would be fearful even though it was outside. Then they showed up and showed out. When I looked at our metrics, we were down slightly from our 2019 numbers, however, we were happy with the turnout.
It was a beautiful day, with beautiful skies and great energy. Typically, it's never a problem at House In The Park. People tend to feel safe in space. Ramon's team does a great job of effectively communicating with the attendees. The City of Atlanta honored House in the park with a proclamation naming the first Sunday in September as “House In The Park Day”. The event has become so large that it is now considered one of the largest festivals in the city.
You are a festival man and since you've been doing this for several years now, what are your expectations and how are you feeling about attending Charivari?
Ramon: As you know, we've entered into a marketing partnership with Charivari and two other festivals. I'm looking forward to attending and playing Charivari. When I travel and I go to these various House festivals around the world, I'm angling. I'm taking notes. What are they doing that we aren't doing? What are they doing better than we're doing? What are they doing that we don't like? You can learn something from everyone. somebody. Even though I'll be working while I’m there, I'll definitely be checking out what they are doing. I'm also excited that Charivari is an African American-owned festival.
Ramon wears multiple hats because not only does he produce House In The Park, he's also a working DJ. His monthly party is called “The Gathering” and the people in Atlanta have missed it these past two years due to the Pandemic. Ramon had good relationships with both the Music Room and The Sound Table, which were staples in the House community and are now closed.
Are we going to get The Gathering back at any time soon?
Ramon: I've been asked that question a few times the past couple of weeks. I think people must want it. I'm about consistency. As you know, The Gathering is the longest-running party in Atlanta as far as our genre for Dance Music. The Gathering wants to come back. I just want to make sure we can find a venue where we can have consistency. I don't want to make it a traveling party where we're changing venues every 3 months. When we can find a place we can call home for at least 12 months, then The Gathering will return.
Because you've been in the space for a long time, you're a seasoned DJ. You're absolutely right, you've been bestowed the opportunity to travel all over the world. You've played at Mi Casa, a festival and party that goes to different countries and different parts of the world. You've played domestically at different parties and venues. Do you feel that the music has changed since when you started to what you know people are listening to now?
Ramon: Music is a living breathing temple. It's art so it's going to evolve. I think that the quality of the production has gotten better. I think some of the R&B remixes have improved because there is a real connection with the label. I think the production overall has become a lot more solid and it needed to be because everything is digital now. With The equipment that we're using in these clubs, your reproduction needs to be clear, needs to be full, needs to have good sound As far as the music changing, I definitely think we hear a lot more African influence, In particular definitely South African influences in today’s music. A few years ago the South African “sound” was mainly being produced by producers like Black Coffee, Culoe De Song, and Black Motion. Now, you have producers all over the world incorporating African Rhythms into their sound. Take for example Doug Gomez, he’s one of the hottest producers in the past couple of years, check out his catalog, it’s fire and definitely loaded with Afro rhythms. My Chicago brethren Terry Hunter has been working with some big, named people. House Music used to be the little neglected child that was kept in the corner. Now, House Music has been propelled to the forefront and the labels are realizing if they make a House Music remix, it might get more sales, more streams, or more downloads. I feel like we're slowly getting ourselves out of the closet.
When you play, what kind of music or sound do you think you're playing? Is it more vocals? Is it a little Soulful House? What do you think your style is when you play?
Ramon: Coming from the city that started this thing, I feel like the labeling of our music has been a contributing factor to the limited growth of our music, especially if you compare it to “Hip Hop” which started around the same time. Today, they have several “genres” of house music, some of the names I can’t even remember. However, If I have to claim a “Sound” or style, I’ll say I just play good music. Let’s take House In the Park as an example. We simply play good music that day and it happens to be a majority of electronic House Music. You may hear some Fela, you may hear some James Brown or you may hear some Black Coffee. We play music and that is who I am as a DJ. If I have to narrow it down further, I am a fan of the Soulful House genre and Afro House genre. In my sets, you may hear me play a Jill Scott remix. You may hear me play some James Brown from the 70s. You may hear me play some Disco. My sets are very curated based upon how I'm feeling and what the crowd needs that day.
Before Ramon became a DJ, he was a dancer. Atlanta has some popular dancers in the scene such as Ramadan, Monty aka Soul, and AJ Dance and he used to be one of those people in his younger years (17, 18, and 19-year old self). It was a natural progression to listen as he always wondered what the DJ was going to play next. Then he would ask the question - why is he playing that now? Ramon began wanting to become a DJ and began teaching himself how to play. He also started hanging around with other DJs like Kai Alce and DJ Kemit. Then started traveling the world and watching the craft. That's how he perfected his craft. He'll tell you he's not perfect but a good DJ.
Every year, Ramon's new year's resolution is that he's going to produce some music within the year. It's not that he doesn't want to because he has some really cool creative ideas. However, with the nature of his life and all the other things he has going on, producing music is not at the forefront at this time. Being a promoter, an organizer of a festival, and a DJ, it's difficult to find time to get into that lane. For most of the prolific producers that are out here, it's a full-time job.
Even though Ramon is pulled in a lot of different directions, he still manages to give back to young boys as a football referee. We can chalk that up to community work. It is great to know that Black men are in the space giving back, being positive role models, and helping these kids through athletics and sports.
It's an honor and I'm proud to have been a sponsor for House In The Park these last few years. What I enjoy is standing on the stage just for a second and looking out. It's beautiful. I get a chance to stand behind each one of your brothers and that's Salah Ananse, DJ Kemit, and Kai Alce. As the founder of this amazing festival here in Atlanta, which brings so many people so much joy on that day, year after year. 17 years strong going into the 18th year. How does it feel for you to be on that stage knowing that you curated that event? You look out in the sea of people and see all these beautiful faces of black, white, men, women. children, young and old. How does that feel for you?
Ramon: Wow, it's a mix of emotions Michelle. So, let me first let me go on record by saying that your organization (Real Chicks Rock!) has helped House In The Park navigate through a very tricky obstacle while working within the Atlanta Festival Circuit. It was 2017 or 2018, I can't remember what year. But we were really indoctrinated into the festival world because we became part of a coalition of the big festivals. Once we became a part of that coalition, they revealed a few trade secrets that we didn't know about.
One of the trade secrets was the ability to have some rules relaxed based upon your tax exemption status. You and I had a conversation, where you graciously offered HITP your status. This allowed HITP to take advantage of some of the relaxed rules. At that very moment, you became a sponsor. HITP is forever indebted to you and Real Chicks Rock, As long as you want to be a sponsor House In The Park is happy to have you.
MDB: Thank you so much that means a lot to me. I'm always honored and I'm humbled to be in that space because it does touch lives, you are making a difference through House Music and just playing good music that day. I would agree that you guys play whatever comes to your spirit, your heart, and your mind. It's not a specific genre of music per se, it's just good to feel good music.
Sing out loud music. You know some people cry, some people are just smiling, dancing with the sun. It's just an amazing day and I'm just honored to be a part of it and my son wants to be a part of it too.
How does it feel standing on that stage?
Ramon: We did something in 2019 and repeated in 2021 and hopefully in 2022. We built a stage and I felt that the presence of the stage transitioned the event to another level. We graduated into the big leagues like some of the other major festivals in Atlanta. Being on that stage allows you to look out upon the people and it changes the vantage point while you're performing. I'm a very spiritual and caring man but I'm not very emotional. But standing on the stage while we're at capacity, and seeing all these people dancing and having a good time pulls at your heartstrings. That's the one time a year I'm emotional. I'm walking through the crowd literally having to fight back the tears. The emotion is in part due to the realization that the year-long journey of planning and executing is now over. Me and the crew celebrate the success of HITP, in October while in Mexico for Mi Casa Holiday. November is my birthday then we go into the holidays. Before you know it, it's February and we have to start working on House In The Park again.
It's a huge accomplishment in the books. House In The Park is something here in Atlanta that people still look forward to as it remains inexpensive and very affordable for the family. Most people tend to buy an extra ticket to help sell out the event but more importantly, give the ticket to someone that needs it. There are too many places where you can get 8 hours of music, in a safe space and party with thousands of people all at the same time. Congratulations on having a fun family event for so many years.
MDB: Congratulations on having a fun family event for so many years. Because there are still some concerns and things about what's going on in the air with the pandemic and just finding spaces in Atlanta is becoming a challenge. Your last anniversary party for The Gathering was quite nice as it was the last party before COVID hit. We're glad you'll be playing with Charivari this year.
Ramon: I'm super excited for the Charivari guys and excited about the agreement. They pretty much drove the whole thing and we're in agreement with Chosen Few, West Coast Weekender, and Charivari. These are all African-American-owned festivals all working together to bring light to House Music. We're letting the world know that we too can put on a festival. We too can be professional. We too can be a part of the big game. Let's make it all-inclusive and let's get some sponsorship dollars for all of us.
Ramon Rawsoul is the founder of House In The Park and The Gathering (a monthly party) both held in Atlanta. Follow House In The Park on Facebook and Instagram for all information.
