Profile
Bolis Pupul It’s no coincidence that Bolis Pupul’s music sounds the way it does. Born in Belgium to a Chinese mother and Belgian father and raised in the super-cool creative city of Ghent, Bolis’ music is a joyous cross-cultural assemblage. Mixing widescreen electronica – think early Mr Fingers-like techno and Yellow Magic Orchestra’s exuberant man-machine minimalism – with the warm-hearted and wonky naivete of Belgian New Beat, Bolis’ singular sonics are at once playful, emotive, unrelenting and tender. The real key to unlocking Bolis’ musical secret, however, is that conversation he has between his Eastern and Western roots. It was something he subconsciously touched upon on his first two releases for David and Stephen Dewaele (Soulwax/2manydjs)’s DEEWEE label. “The first demos I made for DEEWEE had some Oriental melodies without me knowing,” he explains. “David and Stephen pointed it out. The melodies – without thinking – had that feel.” However, it’s something that he has unapologetically and enthusiastically explored properly on his solo debut LP, ‘Letter To Yu’, following his acclaimed 2022 collaboration with Charlotte Adigéry, ‘Topical Dancer’. Growing up Bolis had not negated his Chinese roots exactly – his mother was born in Hong Kong – but he certainly hadn’t embraced them. However, in the wake of his mother passing away in 2008, he began coming to terms with his heritage. “When I started to think about my roots, instead of being ashamed of them, I started to become proud of them,” he recalls. “And so it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them. I went to evening school here and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.” His first visit to Hong Kong in 2018, further crystallised how Bolis wanted to incorporate his Chinese legacy into his music. While there he was encouraged by David and Stephen to write every day. Currently #7,773 in the BookedDJ global ranking.