Carlos Manaça

With a journey of 30 years inside the “cabins”, Carlos Manaça is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding names in the Portuguese “Dance Scene”. A constant presence in the main electronic music events in Portugal since its inception, Carlos Manaça is undoubtedly one of the “pioneers” and main ambassadors of dance music that is made in Portugal.

Starting in 1986 in his hometown, Barreiro (district of Setúbal), it is from 1992 that his career as a DJ reaches national prominence as a resident of two of the great “Clubs” that promote electronic music in Portugal, the “CAIS 447” (Matosinhos, near Porto, from 1992 to 1995), and the “ROCK’s Club” (Vila Nova de Gaia) between 1995 and 1996. In “ROCK’s” he performed alongside great names of World electronic music in his absolute debut in Portugal, such as Danny Tenaglia, Armand Van Elden, Laurent Garnier, Jeff Mills, Josh Wink, Dj Sneak, Johnny Vicious, George Morel, Eric Morillo, Underworld (among many others) performances that transform this “Club” into a reference at National and International level.

Between 1997 and 2005 he is managed by the Agency / Producer “X-Club” being present in practically all major electronic music events produced in Portugal. The “X-Club” was responsible for some of the biggest and best events in Portugal, with Carlos Manaça participating in practically all between 1997 and 2005, highlighting the NEPTUNOS MUSIC FESTIVAL (held in 1997 in Albufeira, Algarve, until today the largest dance music event in Portugal) and also for the various editions of the event “OLÁ LOVE 2 DANCE” held at the Atlantic Pavilion in Lisbon.

As a producer his career began in 1995 with the duo O.L.N. (one of the first dance music projects in Portugal) remixing “Places of Pleasure” and “Reboot 144”, both edited by Kaos Records Portugal and later released worldwide by Tribal América, in an EP with the name O.L.N. – “Oporto Deep Cuts”.

In 2000 he created Magna Recordings Portugal a label that quickly reached a prominent place, both nationally and internationally, with several editions reaching the first places of sales and being played by the main DJs around the world. In 2001 he co-produced with Chus & Ceballos the song “The Strong Rhythm” which also reached the top of the main charts of 2001 and 2002 and is included in the compilation “GLOBAL UNDERGROUND 021 – MOSCOW” mixed by Deep Dish (Dubfire and Sharam), one of the main dance compilations at an international level, among many others.

Also in 2000, he released by Universal Music Portugal his first compilation called “PURE ELEMENTS OF HOUSE” which sold more than 10,000 copies and was a gold record. In 2001 he is the cover of the music magazine “DANCE CLUB” and also mixes the CD of this edition, with the name “FRESH FRUIT”. In 2005 he was again on the cover of the magazine “DANCE CLUB”, this time in celebration of the 5 years of Magna Recordings, also mixing the CD included in this issue of the magazine. In January 2006 he mixed the compilation “5 YEARS OF MAGNA RECORDINGS” released by Magna Recordings itself, which was a bestseller. In 2009 the song Manaca, Chus & Ceballos “The Strong Rhythm” is remixed by the Canadians D-Unity and remains 5 weeks in first place of the “TOP 10” sales of the main “online” store of dance music, Beatport.com.

With these and other editions, his name reaches projection across borders, leading him to visit countries as distinct as Japan (several times), Poland, Mexico, USA, England, Canada, Russia, Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Austria, (among many others) and Spain, where he resides since 2002 after attending an “Audio-Engineering” course at the renowned English school SAE, in Madrid.

As a producer 2015 was his best year ever, with editions on such important labels as SCI+TEC (from Dubfire, from Deep Dish) Funk’n Deep, Toolroom (with Chus & Ceballos), Orange Recordings, Transmit, Otto Music, Kinetika Records, and District Audio. In 2016 Carlos Manaça celebrated his 30 Years of Career as a professional DJ. It was undoubtedly one of his best years ever, received several awards and participated in some of the best national events, such as ROCK IN RIO Lisboa (alongside names such as Carl Cox, Octave One, and Dj Vibe) and the “Best of the Year of Radio Nova Era” at the Rosa Mota Pavilion (Porto) where he received the Career Award. It also received the “20 More 2015” award, in addition to being in 10th place in the recent “Top 30” voting, both 100% DJ dance music portal. In addition to these awards, he also received the award for the best “DJ Tech” Portuguese at the WAV Awards.