The Guest List: transport yourself to balmy festival nights with Aroop Roy's top global grooves

In recent years there has been an exciting upsurge in the popularity of selectors who are not confined by restrictive genres and style definitions, a phenomenon that has made dance music more expansive and vastly more interesting to those who tire of linear beats alone. A much-loved exponent of this far-reaching and vibrant movement is London-based DJ and producer, Aroop Roy.

An artist whose output seems to be perennially garnering heat, Aroop emerged from London's lively broken beat scene sometime around 2007, and his career has continued to gather pace ever since. His skilful blend of world rhythms, house, disco, Latin and jazz have seen him grow an ever-expanding fan-base among dancers and taste-makers alike, and he counts big-hitter such as Giles Peterson, Francois K, Hunee, Antal and Soul Clap as admirers of his work.

His studio productions tend to be full of energy and flavour, and his dynamic production sound echoes that of his DJ sets – varying in tone from deep house, to broken beat, lovingly constructed world edits and a lot more in between. He's released on premium labels including Delusions Of Grandeur, Gamm, House Of Disco, Lazy Days among many others, and in 2018 set up his own Vive La Musique imprint. Some highlights of his work include his life-affirming edit of 'Tabala Mouv', and his outrageously vibe-rich version of Edition Speciale's 'Monsieur Business'.

If you were lucky enough to be in attendance at last years magnificent Wonderfuit Festival, there's a good chance you would have witnessed him whip the dance-floor into a hedonistic frenzy at the Omelette/ Hamlet stage. Had there have been a roof on the venue, he would have torn it all the way off that night. Fortunately for anyone unable to be there, Aroop has agreed to share with us a carefully chosen selection of deep, world grooves to bring cheer to these most confusing of times. The list contains a sprinkling of the tracks that lit up that balmy Wonderfruit night, alongside some stone-cold classics, and esoteric secret weapons. He's also been kind enough to share a little background of his picks, and let us know why they made the cut.

Here he presents "10 tracks from the deeper side of my sets, with strong influences and samples from around the world." So, it's time to dim the lights (or switch on the disco ball if you have one), press play on this list, and transport yourself somewhere magical with the sunshine sound of Aroop Roy...

Title: Agboju Logun (Captain Planet rework)
Artist: Shina Williams
Label: Kampana Classics
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Captain Planet reworks this Nigerian disco masterpiece, blending modern drums and bass synth with the original in style."

Title: Bashi Mwana (Danny Goliger's Awesome 808's from Africa Edit)
Artist: Musi o Tunya
Label: Fantastic Voyage
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Raw and edgy house with killer switches from straight 4-4 to triplets, fierce 808 drums and entrancing vocal chants."

Title: Soufwans (3AM Mix)
Artist: Esnard Boisdur vs Frankie Francis & Simbad
Label: Sofrito
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Perfect late night vibes, layering moody Detroit pads on top of Guadaloupian Gwo Ka voices and rhythms."

Title: Esok Am (Mudegg Edit)
Artist: Francis Bebey
Label: Mudegg
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"A deep mid-tempo instrumental blends smoothly with Francis Bebey’s unmistakeable voice and thumb piano."

Title: Oggun (Nickodemus Remix)
Artist: Hallex M Feat. Carlos Mena
Label: Yoruba
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"This one never leaves the box. The call and response vocal chant and deep afro-house groove are irresistible."

Title: Um Trago
Artist: Aroop Roy
Label: Basic Fingers
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"For this one I sampled Son Palenque’s Afro-Colombian chants and percussion and arranged them over bouncy deep house."

Title: Greed (Remix)
Artist: Moonstar
Label: Compost
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Starting with a Baden-Powell samba guitar line, this one develops from Brazilian broken beat to dirty jazz-fuelled techno. Always a standout track when dropped at the right time."

Title: Angola (Carl Craig Mix)
Artist: Cesar Evora
Label: Lusafrica
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Detroit meets Cape Verde for this minimal mid-tempo techno fusion. The track builds patiently with the organic roots, to pave the way for a hypnotic arp synth."

Title: Children Song
Artist: Lipelis
Label: Animals Dancing
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Always a great one in the open air, unique sampling of Japanese nursery chants, paired with a driving marimba beat."

Title: Sama Kebbalu (Ben Gomori's Lead By Example Edit)
Artist: Dawda Jobarteh
Label: Sterns Edits
Release: Out now, you can buy it here

"Uplifting rhythmic melodies from the vocals and beautiful Kora are perfectly arranged and given a modern dance-floor groove."

A huge thank you to Aroop for sharing this excellent list. You can learn more about Aroop Roy here