Music
DJ Rolando
· techno DJ and producer
Mexicantown-raised Underground Resistance DJ whose “Knights of the Jaguar” became one of the most celebrated techno tracks of all time.
- Birth name
- Rolando Rocha
- Also known as
- The Aztec Mystic
- Detroit years
- birth–2004
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rolando Rocha grew up in Mexicantown, the Mexican-American neighborhood of southwest Detroit, the son of a naturally gifted musician. Seeing Jeff Mills perform in 1986 inspired him, and he got his first DJ equipment in 1987, playing early hip-hop, electro and Latin freestyle at neighborhood venues before discovering the city's techno and house parties. In 1994 he joined Underground Resistance, becoming its DJ as “The Aztec Mystic”. His 1999 track “Knights of the Jaguar” became a global anthem and the center of a fight with Sony BMG, which tried to license it and then released a cover version before UR stopped it with a cease-and-desist letter. Released as “Jaguar”, the track reached No. 43 in the UK in 2000, and Mixmag readers later voted it among the best house tracks ever made. Rolando left UR in 2004 and moved to Edinburgh, from where he plays clubs such as Tresor and Berghain.
Highlights
- Member and DJ of Underground Resistance, 1994–2004.
- “Knights of the Jaguar” (1999) reached UK No. 43 as “Jaguar” in 2000.
- Mixmag readers voted it the 26th best house track of all time (2013).
- A leading Latino figure in Detroit techno.
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Lived here · 1970s–1990s
Mexicantown
The southwest Detroit neighborhood where he grew up.