“My goal is to bring Portuguese artists to Los Angeles”, said the DJ, who moved to Southern California several years ago. “In LA I see a good market where I believe Portuguese artists can enter”.

After a downtime due to restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, DJ Roger Milan is gearing up for a comeback in 2022, starting with a FunkCali event at Sofitel Los Angeles on January 15th.

“As the first Portuguese person to organize such an event at the Sofitel in Beverly Hills, one of the best hotels we have in the city, I feel moved,” he said. “Just the fact that I'm organizing this event is a victory”.

With a long career in music and event production, Braga's DJ has a special taste for 'deep house' and 'afro house', but considers himself eclectic and interested in various types of music.

“LA has a very strong energy,” he said. “It's a city where everything happens with a very wide audience, with different cultures, people from all over the world”, he continued. “They like new things and I managed to fit in because I arrived with my style”.

Stressing that this is a “challenging” and “hard” market, Roger Milan explained that the quality of music production is so high that it forces artists to raise their bar.

“If you're good here, they'll recognize you're good,” he said. “Here the level is so high that it forces you to be better, it forces you to do your homework, to push yourself harder”.

Among the names he intends to take from Portugal to LA in the scope of the Lisbon Lounge nights, Roger Milan mentioned producer Eric Faria, DJ daFonseca and MC Taku, among others with whom he has had long-standing collaborations.

“I want to make this Portuguese night to build the bridge and bring our artists from Portugal, to make their music known here”, he reiterated. “I want to try to raise the Portuguese flag higher in terms of music, DJ and event production”.