Hello Ai! Thanks for meeting us today. So here we are, on the opening day of your 5-day conference, JADE 2008 - Jakarta Annual DanceMusic Event. Now, can you tell us more about this event/conference altogether? Why did you decide to make JADE 2008 a mix between conferences and club parties rather than just "parties" shortly?

Hello indonesiaclubbing, thanks for coming - let's start from the beginning. I got the idea of making a sort of big conference - the biggest one in South East Asia, and involving not only club events/parties but also instructive conference sessions with international and local big names in the nightlife industry - DJs, VJs, MCs, event managers, promoters... That way, Jakarta, as one of Asia's main destinations for international events nowadays, will have something worthy to be known to the world by.
The concept is spread over five days, you're right, from 3 to 7 December 2008, involving seven venues - Barcode, Centro, Embassy, Equinox, Grand Kemang Hotel Poolside, Urban Lounge and most certainly, Jakarta's biggest club at the moment, X2.
At the afternoons we will have conferences about interesting topics, and at the evenings we have club nights. (Please click here to see INFORMATION & COMPLETE SCHEDULE)

And why in Jakarta? Most people would likely opt for Bali, what with Bali being compared to Ibiza...

As a native of Jakarta, I am proud of this metropolis. And I intend to make of JADE a future icon and symbol of Jakarta's nightlife movement - as the name already says it, it would be held every year, as an annual conference for electronic dance music in South East Asia.

How long did it take you to prepare everything?

Quite a short time, actually. I had the rough ideas for a long time, but it was only five months ago that I started putting up things in places. Structurizing the concepts, getting things into concrete plans, selecting the venues, the DJs, the dates, looking for sponsors... If most festivals take perhaps one year to prepare, we only had five months to make everything work out, to make everything correctly, so that was a pressure, but I'm glad we've finally arrived on Day D and everything's now ready.

And this is a personal project of Whitelands Management? How many people in total are involved in JADE 2008?

Yes as a matter of fact Whitelands Management is my own label and I have a total of fifteen persons including me, working on the conference and festival. That excludes, of course, the guest speakers and the DJs/VJs/MCs for the events. These 15 persons are the ones working to make JADE happen.

Tell us about the guest stars you've invited for this event...

Well see, I picked up the DJs not based on their rank on DJmag, no, but based on their quality. I chose to have a variety of genres coming together, not all trance, not all house, not all tech, I try to have one of everything. Mischa here (nudging DJ Mischa Daniels sitting next to him) for example, who has this great hit song Take Me Higher - I really like him as a DJ, I like his songs, his sets, and I decided instantly that he should be a part of JADE 2008.
Then we have Stacey Pullen from Detroit. And still several other international DJs like Kitsune / Gildas & Masaya, Ton T.B., DJ Inquisitive, Aldrin, Wei-Shen, Leonard T, Terence C, as well as Vika Kova - the world's sexiest MC and vocalist. Derrick Carter had canceled his booking but we are most fortunate to have DJ Pippi replacing him for the closing party on Sunday - the sunset party at the Poolside Grand Kemang Hotel.
Oh and we have in total of 50 DJs performing in these events, including Indonesia's premier line up DJs such as Anton Wirjono, DJ Romy, Riri Mestica, DJ Naro, and many more.

What are your goals / objectives in making JADE?

Purely for the benefits and developments of Jakarta's nightlife scene.
I hope in the coming years it would grow bigger like Miami WMC or Amsterdam Dance Valley.

Lastly, do you have any messages you want to pass to the audience?

Many people have asked me, "should we pay to attend the conference sessions?" My answer is NO. The conference sessions are totally free of charge, that's why you all should come. I hope it's going to be very happening, and don't forget to come to the club nights, too!

Thank you Ai, we will most surely attend the conference sessions as well as the club nights and we will pass the information to our members, networks and friends!

You're most welcome and see you at JADE 2008!