EVENT FOCUS
SVEN VÄTH @ COCOON PRAGUE An extensive Funktion-One system, supplied by native rental firm Force Production, sounds Sven Väth’s performance at Cocoon Party’s 20th anniversary in Prague, Czech Republic.
Sven Väth is widely regarded as the leader of the techno revolution. The German DJ and producer emerged from the early-1980s Frankfurt underground and pioneered an electronic music uprising – with both Germany and Ibiza being his beat-fuelled playgrounds. He originally started Cocoon in 1996 as a series of parties, pouring in his savings to help fund the events around Germany and North America. Though this wasn’t Väth’s most financially successful endeavour of a glittering career, it gave rise to Cocoon’s re-birth as a booking agency in 1999. The events and record label soon followed. Since then, Cocoon Recordings has been the launchpad for many of the biggest DJs in the world and the Cocoon brand has become globally recognised thanks countless parties – each one led by a forward-thinking music policy and enriched by high production values. This is certainly true of the Cocoon party in Prague on 10th May, where Väth was joined by Ilario Alicante and Andre Galuzzi at Vystaviste Holesovice in the north of the capital city. The requirement for Funktion-
One sound has been capably handled by Force Production. The company is headed up by Kevin Dobson and Tomas Mazdra. They are long-term partners of the British loudspeaker manufacturer. He said: “Since our relationship began with Funktion-One back in 2010, our company has grown from being just three guys to 15. A big part of this development is directly attributed to Funktion-One. While all the rental companies around Prague were using the same speakers and were engaged in a race to the bottom when it came to budgets, we decided to set ourselves out from the crowd and make a distinction between the rest of the pro audio in the country and ourselves. “When brought Funktion-One to our market and it very quickly became clear that there was a superior option to what other companies could offer. This has translated into us having our own market in our territory and from this the business continues to go from strength to strength. One of the clear reasons for this is Funktion-One’s determination not to follow what the rest of the industry is currently doing.” 20
