Ariel (DJ)

Ariel
Ariel performing in London's Bagley's Studios nightclub at King's Cross, 1998.
Background information
Birth name	Ariel Belloso
Born	(1967-09-14) 14 September 1967 (age 49)
Origin	Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
Genres	House, trance, hard house, Latin tech house
Occupation(s)	Disc jockey, Record producer, Writer
Years active	1982–present
Labels	A&M Records, London Records, MyDust

Ariel Belloso (born 14 September 1967) is an Argentine, UK Based DJ and record producer. He began his career playing new wave music and disco music at clubs in Rosario and Buenos Aires during the early 1980s and moved to London in 1991, after spending 8 months in Ibiza, where he was influenced by the early house music and acid house sounds.

While DJing in London and throughout the world during the 1990s, he developed a personal unique style, combining the sounds of hard house and trance, influenced by the rhythms of his Latin music background with main focus on polyrhythm grooves and energy flow. This sound proved to be an integral and vital element for the evolution of London’s hard house and trance scene throughout the 1990s. He was also the first Argentine artist to enter the UK Top 30 Singles Chart with his record “A9”.

Since 2001–2002 Ariel had moved on musically. He abandoned the hard house and trance of the 1990s for a new, Latin influenced house and techno sound, which he produced and performed through his 7-year weekly residency at London’s cutting edge club, Fabric.

Ariel was born into a nightclub owning family known as Katanga in the city of Rosario, Argentina. Inspired by his older brother, he followed in his steps and before long had taken up his first residency in ‘Dimension’, Rosario, a 2000 capacity nightclub. More residencies followed, including Mengano, Metro, Lager and Damasco. On New Year's Eve, 1985, Ariel ended his residency at the nightclub Dimension with a set performance of 17 hours.

Ariel’s early musical influences include early new wave music and the disco sounds of Talking Heads, Blondie, Kat Mandu, The Clash, The B-52's, Flash and the Pan, and Gino Soccio, as well as Latin American Rumba.