From March 8th to March 12th, the electronic music festival, SXM Festival, will go through its seventh edition. An occasion to look back on the journey of its founder Julian Prince, obsessed with music and fierce businessman.
His life is “so full” of music that Julien Arbia, aka. Julian Prince, doesn’t know where to start when he is asked to tell his story. Born in Montreal in the 1980s, he spent his childhood between extreme temperatures in Canada and Miami beaches, where his family ran a motel. Music held a central part within his family and this atypical way of life. “My uncle used to work in a record store and would often bring me vinyl records”, Julian Prince remembers. “At home, we would listen to music all the time”. The 80s and the 90s were a rich musical era, with the birth of pop stars and grunge movements, punk then hip hop. “We would consume music like crazy”, Julien Arbia remembers with nostalgia.
On January 1st 1995, Julian Prince was convinced by his sister to attend a rave party (a gathering of underground electronic music lovers). He was 13 years old and discovered the techno universe. “This night had been disturbing”, he remembers. “The following day, I started listening to the radio at night, because it was the only way to have access to electro music unless you could buy vinyl records”. The teenager then became bulimic with music, going so far as to deprive himself of eating in order to buy vinyl records. In rave parties, which he then frequented regularly, he was attracted by hip hop rooms, and he began to want to scratch, a sound effect consisting of disturbing the rotation of the record to produce a sound. In 1997, he joined a hip hop music band as a DJ and organized his first rave party in Montreal in 1998. But at that time, the tide turned for hip hop, especially with the death of rapper Tupac. “Artists were rapping a lot about money, it was less artistic, shallower”, Julian Prince remembers. “And it was always the same sounds, I was more interested in the discovery aspect of music”. The young DJ then turned to electro music, which allowed him to quench his thirst of novelties. He quickly started to perform and to produce. But surrounded by a family of entrepreneurs and driven to participate in family affairs, Julian gave priority to work for many years, while continuing to mix, and from time to time to organize evening venues in clubs and warehouses in Montreal. “Music has always been my escape, my safe zone, the place where I feel good and where I can be myself”, he summarizes.
ST. MARTIN AND THE FESTIVAL ADVENTURE
In 2003, Julian Prince arrived in St. Martin where his family already had a few businesses. Electro festivals around the world were starting to be popular and the musician was dreaming of an island where electro music would have its own place. Years go by and in 2015, he really embarked on the project of creating a festival, with the idea of "bringing back into the House music scene, the beauty of nature, respect of the environment and the beautiful values of the psy-trance spirit". The first edition of the SXM Festival was launched in 2016. Julian Prince had to lead this crazy project, his life as a young father, his career as an artist and his two bars in Montreal. “I travelled a lot less; I focused on the festival to secure my family. If I had known how hard it would have been, I don’t know if I would have done it”, he acknowledges with honesty. In 2019, the businessman sold his two affairs in Montreal to come and settle permanently in St. Martin. Hurricane Irma in 2017 and the 2020 pandemic were two cataclysms for the event, but Julian has always been able to count on the team that was created around the festival, especially on his partner Driss Skali, who really took on “this role of ambassador by going to festivals and by meeting the industry”. Despite the difficulties, the festival was able to recover and come back stronger and stronger. “Sharing values with people”, “changing life styles”, “promoting the destination” are objectives set by Julian Prince through this project which has a “bigger vocation than just partying”. While continuing to develop his festival, the artist doesn’t forget the foundation of his motivation: music. He has recently returned to production because he had been looking for this for several years now: “focus my efforts on the artistic side to be in my element”.
Instagram : @julianprincesxmf
