Dj Ali

Dj Ali

Dj Ali is a DJ associated with trance, techno, breakbeat, hard techno and club music. He begins his career in Italy in the late 1980s, during the period when house music spreads through clubs in places such as Riccione and Rimini and then across the country. His early work includes time as a dancer, host and public relations worker in clubs such as Kama-Kama and Duple, before he starts DJing after working in clubs and after-hours venues including Duple, Cicala, Piscina dei Castelli and Imsomnia, as well as in Koh Phangan, Thailand.

Italy, Thailand and the move to Costa Rica

His musical outlook develops through travel in Italy, Holland and England, where he follows major DJs of the period. In Thailand he finds a different club environment from the Italian scene, and by the end of 1992 he rejects what he sees as a commercialised direction in club culture. In July 1993 he moves to Costa Rica and opens Kaliolin in Montezuma, described as the first electronic music nightclub there. He lives in Montezuma for five years, working in a natural setting that shapes his outlook.

Electronic music in Costa Rica

In early 1997, social electronic events begin in San José through two organisations, Nueva Era and Generacion X, and he starts playing regularly in the city as the local electronic scene grows. In the same year he meets Geno, who has spent eight years in Goa, India, and is connected to psychedelic trance. This leads Dj Ali toward goa trance in particular, and he focuses on that style because of its rhythms, atmosphere and structure. He and Geno become a regular DJ pair at parties with a non-commercial direction.

Residencies and Transelastica

In 1998 he becomes a resident at the Noai nightclub in Tamarindo. He also works with other groups including Boltron, Grupo millenio, Psychedelic Nomads, Audioscopio and File Connection. In January 2000 he and Geno found Transelastica, an organisation devoted to promoting trance in its different forms and outdoor parties. In March 2001 he leaves the beach and returns to San José to focus fully on Transelastica.