Nasaya(born Théo Hoarau) is a French DJ/producer and guitarist originally from Reunion Island that’s located off the coast of Madagascar. Taking his stage name is from his grandmother’s maiden name, Nasaya first started playing the guitar at age 12. “I got my first electric guitar on Christmas”, he stated, “I always liked guitar, classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, & Rage Against The Machine and here I am!” Nasaya started off teaching himself the guitar as a teenager, uploading YouTube videos of his guitar playing that would eventually inspire him to study guitar techniques and musicianship at Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. Although a guitar major, Nasaya became interested in EDM after a school friend introduced him to “good music” such as deadmau5, Tycho, and Skrillex. Noting how influential artists from his native France were, Nasaya stated- “Daft Punk, Phoenix, and Justice were so ahead of their time. Electronic music is the hardest.” Realizing that the future of music is all in computers & electronics, Nasaya used his skills to fuse jazz guitar and EDM into his live set and has garnered much attention from critics and fans alike.
B-Sides host, Pete Mar spoke with Nasaya at The Independent in San Francisco during the annual Noise Pop Festival to talk about his family background, French politics, how he was exposed to classic rock from the 60’s and 70s and more. Check out the interview:
