Tera Kòrá is a Rotterdam-based music producer and DJ with his roots from the sunny Caribbean island Curacao. Known for his signature ‘Soulswing’sound, Tera Kòrá has integrated his experience with trap music with elements from his tropical background into a new exciting genre. Tera Kòrá dropped his first original single ‘No Bad Days’ early 2019 and received instant recognition followed by a second release on indie label Majestic Casual,a track premiere on Complex and shows within Europe and Asia. The highlight of 2019 was his debut show at Lowlands Festival. Tera Kòrá has been garnering a ton of support from Joe Kay on the Soulection Radio show which airs on Apple’s Beats 1 and big names like DJ Craze, Falcons, Jarreau Vandal, FS Green & many more. His unique blend of R&B & Tropical percussion will set the basis for what is yet to come.
First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself
I'm Tera Kórà, from Curacao. I make soulful Caribbean music mostly, but I like to make club shit too sometimes. When it comes to remixes, I do all kinds of genres.
How did you get into DJing, what was your main drive behind it?
I started DJing eight years ago, the same time I met my ex-girlfriend. She saw how it all started. Back in the days I was playing in this Club for five euros an hour. I played three or four sets a week and maybe five or six hours per sets in the north of the Netherlands.
So, you had to hustle a lot, right?
Yeah, for sure. The way I started DJing was kind of a bluff. I just dropped off my first study, doing psychology, I dropped out and I didn’t really know what to do with my life. I had just moved from Curacao to the Netherlands. And I was alone in the north of this country, fucking cold, and don't know what to do now. While I was in this bar one time, I met the bar manager, he was from Curacao too. There are not many people from my country here so we had an instant connection. He told me about his plans with the bar and that he just needed a DJ to get more people involved. So, I said “Hey I’m a DJ!” but I didn’t know how to DJ, but I was desperate at that time you know. So, I had my first gig there. It went shit but good enough for him to be like “ok, come back next week again”. I think I did this for a year and a half.
What where your next steps?
Then I started to pick up music production. I was very inspired by the early Trap scene, the early SoundCloud scene like Yellow Claw, Mr. Carmack, Hucci, Those guys. So, I started with electronic trap music, obviously it was shit.
Nowadays you are well known for your African and Caribbean edits. That’s what you typically do now, right?
Yeah, exactly! After three years the scene seems like dying, I tried other things. What I looked for was a bit like close to home, stuff to what I grew up with like a lot of Dancehall, Latin music, Salsa, Dembow and all that.
I'm a huge fan of soulful progressions. The things came together and I was looking for inspiration through guys coming up like KRS. and the Soulection sound. So that was the whole process and Tera Kórà was born.
Tell me something more about the creative process behind your music. How do you get those ideas?
Thats a difficult question, because inspiration comes out of the blue. You don’t expect inspiration. For example, when I'm in the Club or something I'm drunk and I'm standing in the corner an idea comes up in my head and I record it or save it on my phone. That’s what I did the last time I made an edit. I had a show in Geneva (Switzerland) a couple of weeks ago and I got home, high and drunk from this party. I was in my hotel room and yeah you know the track 212 from Azealia Banks? Out of the blue, 5 am in the morning and I just got the idea to flip it into a baile remix. So, all in all I can't explain what inspires me exactly, maybe the it's my whole environment, travelling as well and also to expand my environment. Which artists and sound influence you the most? You told us about the early trap and soundcloud scene. But what about some locals of your home country? Growing up on a Caribbean Island influences my sound the most. There were artists like Basic One, Big Boy, Calibre. You wouldn’t know anyone of them, but on my island, there are something like stars. And I also heard music from Konshens, Shaggy and J Capri at the beginning.
Which artists do you like to collaborate in the future?
Yeah, for sure, a couple of people. I'm very into the African scene, there's so much of good music coming from there. Someone like Rema, he is a superstar and the kids are like in their 20s. And there are also my homies like Dave Nunes, he’s on the same vibe in terms of taste in music and ambition, very ambitious guy! I've two more remixes with him on my edit pack which is dropping soon. The Legend of Kórà Book two. We are now finishing everything, mixing and mastering the package.
Would you give us a small preview regarding your new Pack, what kind of artists are we going to hear?
Sure, the 212 remix I told you, then I've got a bachata / drill remix of my humps, which doesn’t make sense, but it works! I did a love nwantiti remix, I did my love remix from Justin Timberlake, Kiss Me More by Dojo Cat, I did a Gal a Bubble remix of Konshens as well, Sad gurlz love money with Dave Nunes. And we have combined some tunes to a crazy combination, September from Earth Wind and Fire with Mirror Maru from Cashmere Cat. So, check out my new edit pack and enjoy the tunes.
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