On Friday the most popular German DJ Westbam is coming to Saint-Petersburg. July, 27-28 he will play his set at Fort party.

WestBam, alias Maximilian Lenz, was born on 4 March 1965 in Munster, Westphalia. He is not only Germany's most successful and most popular DJ and avantgardist of the Raving Society, he is also the most innovative producer and co-founder of Berlin's Indie Dance label, Low Spirit.

WestBam is in fact the abbreviated form of Westphalia BamBaataa and derives from this artist's home state in Germany and his role model Afrika Bambaataa.

1983 marked the beginning of his DJ career in the Odeon Club in Munster. WestBam started as DJ at Berlin's famous Metropol and his sophisticated mixing techniques brought him fame far beyond the borders of the divided city.

In 1985 WestBam worked with Klaus Jankuhn to produce his first 12" entitled "17" which was inspired by Paul Hardcastle's "19", one of the first sample hits of the time. One of the climaxes of those early years was undoubtedly his performance at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul (South Korea) where he gave a German cultural contribution at the invitation of the Goethe Institute.

In 1989 he made his first album "The Cabinet". This was the first DJ-concept album to be launched on the German market. This album included the number "The Roof Is On Fire" and brought the breakthrough for DJ WestBam as well as Low Spirit Recordings.

After that things really started moving. "Monkey Say Monkey Do", "And Party" and "No More Fucking Rock 'n Roll" are just some of the titles known to everyone who danced not just in German discos at the time. 1991 saw the arrival of his second album entitled "A Practising Maniac At Work". The first Mayday also took place in 1991 (14 December) and WestBam was decisively involved in the artistic concept of this and the following Maydays.

In 1995 WestBam again entered the charts with the remix of the Yello classic "Bostich".

The highlight of 1995 was unquestionably the tenth anniversary of the Low Spirit label commemorated by the double CD "The Age Of The DJ Mixer - 10 Years Of Low Spirit" which included ten titles with WestBam.

DJ WestBam's success story continued through 1996. In January Maximilian Lenz received the highly esteemed cultural award from Berlin's biggest daily paper (BZ) and took his place alongside other award holders such as Mario Adorf, Bernhard Minetti and Otto Sanders.

Then "Sonic Empire" hit the market. The most recent Mayday Anthem (30 April 1997), written and produced together with Klaus Jankuhn and released under Members of Mayday, rose to number one in the German Media Control Singles Charts and was highly praised throughout the entertainment industry.

As a DJ, Maximilian Lenz is now known and in demand around the world. He already looks back on many successful tours of the USA, Japan, Australia and Africa.Without exaggeration, WestBam has had a decisive influence on the techno house cultural movement and his creative impulse is still very much alive and kicking.

Fort party is the official celebration of the Navy Day. It will be held in Shants fort - one of the oldest city fortifications. It was built in ÕVIII century on Kotlin island.

The celebration will continue for two days. On Saturday (July, 28) it will begin with night music and art performance. On Sunday (July, 29) it will continue with pop and brass band concerts, fireworks and laser show.

More than 20 thousand people will visit this event.

During the night show ‘Rechniki’ art-group will show a unique performance. Four real anti-aircraft searchlights will be used.

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