Abe Duque

Carlos Abraham Duque Alcivar (or Abe Duque) was born in the South American country of Ecuador. He moved to the United States at the age of 2 and grew up in NYC. He got much of his early musical understanding from his dad who was a gifted musician and evangelical minister. Abe discovered Djing in the early 80’s where he became obsessed with vinyl and electronic dance music production. He bought his first synthesizer in 1983 with money from his newspaper route and played his keyboard in his dad’s church. At the end of the 80’s he met Gene LeFosse and Victor Calderon who were then known as Program 2 a noted NYC techno duo. He would eventually come on board their team as a keyboardist. They would introduce him to the low world of the “dance music industry”. In 1993 Abe made a decision to start his first record label TENSION. In which he released his own material at first then graduated to other artists. In 1994 he decided to do it again starting his second label Rancho Relaxo Records, from which sprung a legendary NYC party and electronic supergroup (The Rancho Relaxo Allstrars). Around this time Abe started recording music for the Disko-b label out of Munich, under the name Kirlian. With albums Such as “Chicken Wings and Beef Fried Rice” and “Pleasure Yourself” In 1996 Abe won Disko-b records from owner Peter Wacha in a bet over cigarettes. Although Mr. Wacha insisted Abe should collect on the fairly waged bet and wanted to sign the company over to Abe, he let him keep it if he promised to use it for the benefit of mankind. In 1999 Abe co-founded Rapture Records along with John Selway. His latest Label venture is the quizzically successful Abe Duque Records, where he concentrates on releasing only his own material. He has dubbed this effort the Most Underground in the Whole Wide World. Promising not to promote this label in any fashion (not even by giving a promo to his favorite DJ friends) Strange but this approach has had the opposite effect than one would imagine. Abe is an intensely versatile artist whose styles range from Ambient, Techno, Downtempo, House, Latin electronic jazz, to the unknown. There seems to be no limit to Abe’s musical explorations while always keeping a unique flavor that’s remarkably refined and definitely his own. He can be categorized as a producer for producers, daring to go where most won’t. And one who will shoot himself in the foot any chance he can get all the while making it work for himself. Abe has released his music on many labels such as, Disko-b, Oval, V2, Vortex, Sahko, Mainframe, Tresor, Instinct, GiG, Tension, Abuse, Warner Bros, Mille Plateaux, Sonic Groove, Universal & Rapture. He has worked under a few different monikers such as: Kirlian, Abe Duque, Super Secret Symphony, New York Trance King, Monkey Spank, Facil, and founded the Rancho Relaxo All-stars. As a producer he has released works done together with the likes of Richard Dorfmeister, Jimmy Tenor, John Selway, Patrick Pulsinger and most recently finished producing DJ Hell’s NY Muscle Album and the forthcoming Blake Baxter Poetry Album. Abe has travel the world to play his music. From his once resident club Limelight in NYC to many stops around the globe. He has been part of events such as the Sonar festival in Barcelona, the Love Parade in Berlin, and the Zurich Street Parade. He has played inside volcanoes in Mexico and caves in Austria. He has appeared in clubs such as Tresor (Berlin), The Rex (Paris), The Ultraschall (Munich), Sensor, (Zurich) Lolita (Spain) and the Limelight (NYC).