Mark Farina
Encyclopedia
Mark Farina is a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, known for his Chicago house
Chicago house
Chicago house is a style of house music, a genre of electronic dance music which emerged in Chicago in the mid-1980s. Stylistically, Chicago house has no widely accepted definition, but generally includes the first house music productions by Chicago-based artists throughout the 1980s, and any later...

, acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...

 and downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...

 works. Notable releases include Mood (KMS Records, 1989) and the Mushroom Jazz
Mushroom Jazz
Mushroom Jazz is a series of musical compilations by DJ Mark Farina. Originating in 1992 these were released on cassette tape, then since 1997 have been commercial CD and vinyl releases. Farina combines elements of downtempo, hip hop, jazz and R&B, French, Latin, beatmatching and mixing songs...

series (Om Records
Om Records
Om Records is a US-based record label, established in 1995, which releases electronic music, dance music, and hip hop. The label was founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Chris Smith. Om Records releases both artist albums and various compilations. Some of the most notable compilations include Om...

, 1996–2010), and recently known also from house compilations El Divinio. He is primarily identified with the house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 scene in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where he resides, but DJs widely around the world.

Shortly after Mark befriended Derrick Carter
Derrick Carter
Derrick Carter is an American house producer and DJ from Chicago, Illinois. He is regarded as one of the best underground house key players currently active and is particularly popular in Europe.-Biography:...

 in 1988 at a record store in Chicago, his passion for House music, and sharing it with the world, exploded. Mark experimented with a deeper style, dropping De La Soul, disco classics and other jazzy soulful stuff that wasn’t being played in the main rooms of nightclubs. While exploring his love for the purist forms of House Music, Mark developed his trademark style, known as "Mushroom Jazz": acid jazz infused with the West Coast’s jazzy, organic productions along with urban beats. Fans embraced Mark’s downtempo style so much that he started a weekly Mushroom Jazz club night in San Francisco with Patty Ryan. In 3 years at the club, Farina and Mushroom Jazz established a very strong following. When the club closed, Farina continued the tradition by releasing a series of CDs under the same name, Mushroom Jazz. Since then, Mark has been traveling the globe performing hundreds of shows each year. His House sets have been described as the jazzy side of Chicago House mixed San Francisco style. Some of his sets have been known to last up to 8 hours. Sometimes Farina will play two different rooms at the same party, showcasing his range of talents. URB, MUZIK and BPM Magazines have all had him on their Top DJs In The World lists.

Discography (Selected Releases)

  • Geograffiti EP (Great Lakes Audio)
  • Mushroom Jazz series
    • Mushroom Jazz 7 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 6 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 5 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 4 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 3 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 2 (Om)
    • Mushroom Jazz 1 (Om)
  • Fabric 40 (Fabric)
  • Live In Tokyo (Om)
  • House of OM (Om)
  • Sessions (MOS)
  • Seasons (Moonshine)
  • Imperial Dub (Imperial)
  • United DJs of America (DMC)
  • San Francisco Sessions (Om)
  • Connect (Om)
  • Live at Om w/Derrick Carter (Om)
  • Air Farina (Om)

Others

There is another Mark Farina in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, he is also in the music industry but not as well known as his American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 namesake.

There is also an Italo Disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...

/Eurobeat
Eurobeat
Eurobeat is a form of italo-disco/hi-NRG music that developed in the late 1980s.In the United States, Eurobeat was sometimes marketed as Hi-NRG and for a short while shared this term with the very early freestyle music hits....

 artist named Mark Farina (real name: Mauro Farina) who runs his own studio in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 named Team Factory (Factory Team). Team Factory studios produced and still produces the majority of popular dance tunes that come out of Italy, including "What's Up" by DJ Miko
DJ Miko
DJ Miko is an Italian DJ. He had a hit with a cover of Four Non Blondes's "What's Up" in 1994, one year after the original...

, Hey Hey Guy by Ken Laszlo
Ken Laszlo
Ken Laszlo is an Italo Disco singer who became famous in the 1980s.Ken was interested in music at a young age and his career began in 1980 when he played and sang in discos and clubs. His first hit in Europe was the single Hey Hey Guy in 1984...

, "If You Say Goodbye" by Kate Project, and plenty others. Team Factory studios has been around since 1982.

External links

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