DJ Tatana

Ever since Tatana Sterba mixed the CD ‘Live at Street Parade’ in 1998, she’s been Queen of the Swiss trance scene. Whenever the 26 year old Czech gets behind the turntables at raves such as ‘Energy’, ‘Evolution’, ‘Goliath’ and ‘Motion’, she draws the crowds in like no other. Her true fans can always be found on the front row, with their home-made Tatana banners. As female producer of hits such as ‘Dream Off’, ‘End Of Time’ (with DJ Energy) and ‘Words’, she’s a member of Switzerland’s premier trance league. English magazine ‘M8’ enthusiastically wrote: ‘The way she builds up her sets is wonderful, to see Tatana mixing is the dream of every music knower’. The selfmade woman was born on 7th August 1976 in former Czechoslovakia. Whilst at school she played various different instruments and was already developing a sensitive feel for music. She also attended dancing schools for ballet and jazz. At the beginning of the Swiss techno and house movement, Tatana was dancing the night away at parties and so came into contact with many influential people in the industry. In May 1994, at the tender age of seventeen, she first had the opportunity to impress everyone with her talent during a party at Groodonia in Rümlang. Some small gigs in and around Zurich followed, and in the same year she had the opportunity to prove herself at bigger events such s Futurescope, Evolution, Magic Kingdom and Metropolis. In 1997 Tatana produced her own first record, released on Liquid Records, in Frankfurt’s Polaris-Studio, along with the German star producer Torsten Stenzel (Taucher, DJ Sakin & Friends). On 8th August 1998, she did a set for the Street Parade and at Energy ’98, the biggest event of its kind in Switzerland. Her second production, ‘Tatana – The second Chapter E.P’ followed at the end of August 1998 on Liquid Records. In November 1998, Tatana’s first own Mix-CD, ‘Tatana The Mix Vol. 1’, was released. In 1999 she produced the single ‘End of Time’ along with DJ Energy. In April she mixed the ‘Goliath’ CD. In the summer, she was offered the chance to produce the official CD for Street Parade in Zurich, along with its anthem, ‘More Than Words’. In 2000 she released her Mix-CD ‘24 Karat’, which reached ninth place in the official Swiss charts. Together with the band M.O.P.E she developed a live act totally new to the trance scene. With this she was able to inspire the crowds at ‘Heitere Open Air’ in Zofingen and the Energy 00 in the Hallenstadion. In November, she managed to conquer the Swiss market straightaway with her next Mix-CD, ‘Pure Elements’. The follow-up Mix-Album, ‘Pink Punk’ (released May 2001) made number five in the album charts and paved the way for the decisive success of ‘Superpop’. Beside that, she walked off with a platinum award for the ‘Energy 2001’ Compilation, and gold for ‘Energy 2002’. She also had success with ‘Energy The Annual’ CDs (01 and 02), also compiled by her. She is not only a star at home in Switzerland, but also in Peru where she has already appeared as the headline act to crowds of around 1000 people. Her Mix CDs were copied onto tape in Peru whilst travelling through, and were passed around and the word soon spread. An events organiser got to hear about her and had her fly in. Seldom does she have to sign as many autographs after these kind of events as she does in Peru, where she is even recognised on the street.

Owner of the Swiss Trance label Sirup.