For those that don't know much about tINI and the Gang, the party's concept is simple: tINI herself DJs each week and invites three friends to come along and play music and join her gang. The party is free, it takes place on the beach every Wednesday and has a feeling of freedom that not many parties on the island have. tINI also encourages you to bring your friends to dance with the sand between your toes, have fun and play with stickers and tattoos that for a few hours or so make you part of a gang that you'll never actually leave.
After taking place at Sirocco/Sands Beach Club for the last three years, tINI and the Gang has moved two hundred yards along the beach to the mysterious No Name, a venue that is nothing more than a wooden shack on the beach a stone's throw away from the island's most expensive hotel. Following on from Cocoon and Fuse I arrived at around 8.30pm and I found myself once again apart of a social club that has been my go to party on a Wednesday evening for the last three years. On the decks was Giaamarco Otsini, who quietly did his thing while I flicked off my vans and drank my first of many Gin n Tonics that evening. tINI was seen mingling with the crowd and the bar staff were handing out tINI and the Gang stickers to whoever wanted one - I took four. As the sky turned black, tINI graced the decks at 10pm on the dot and the party went from being a social club to a party within seconds. I turned around to see hundreds of like-minded individuals, tourists and workers of all different languages lost in the warm red lighting that set an intimate and homely feel to our sandy surroundings.
tINI's set was tough to describe musically. It ranged from bass driven house to tribal at times. Her mixing was a little loose at the beginning but that can be forgiven considering she was mixing vinyl in a beach shack with hundreds of people wanting to be as close to her as possible. I've seen tINI so many times over the years but never have I seen her put together such a complete set. At times it felt like I was discovering electronic music again and I clearly wasn't alone as at the end of the two hour set, the German DJ was almost reduced to tears as over two hundred and fifty people all stopped and joined together in a round of applause that went on for at least a few minutes. There were hugs from close friends and a number of whistles from the crowd who clearly didn't want the party to end.
I interviewed tINI a few weeks ago and asked her how her winter travels to South America and Asia have inspired her and now I know. These continents and their approach to music has made tINI a better and more cultured DJ; it felt like she had been collecting vinyl that no-one else had since last summer and put together a collection of music perfect for her sets on Playa den Bossa beach.
WORDS | Andrew Leese PHOTOGRAPHY | Tasya Menaker
