Rainer Trüby on 30 Years of Root Down, Musical Discovery and the Art of the Good Groove
In 1996, Freiburg’s club nights tended to keep their musical identities separate. House had its rooms, techno had its own, and hip-hop occupied another part of the city’s nightlife. Rainer Trüby wanted somewhere he could bring jazz, funk, soul, trip-hop, house and drum & bass together without having to choose between them.
The result was Root Down. Thirty years later, the party has welcomed artists including Gilles Peterson, Theo Parrish, Jazzanova, Laurent Garnier and Kyoto Jazz Massive, while building a loyal audience willing to follow the music wherever it goes. Its anniversary is now marked by ROOT DOWN 30, a compilation curated by Trüby for DAYBREAKERS Records.
“We wanted to showcase the possibilities of (underground) soulful freestyle all in one night, focusing on the lesser known genres in club music that we liked.”
The idea was not conceived as a radical challenge to club culture. It reflected how Trüby and his contemporaries were already listening, with inspiration coming from Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge’s UK nights, Jazzanova in Berlin, Compost Records’ Into Somethin’ parties in Munich and Japan’s Kyoto Jazz Massive and UFO.
That openness became Root Down’s identity. Rather than expecting guests to fit a house style, Trüby invited them to bring their own. Even drum & bass bookings could find an enthusiastic audience, and the night’s structure often encouraged extended exchanges between resident and guest.
“I usually do the warm-up and then the guest DJ comes on for 1 or 2 hours, then I usually play for a bit, the guest comes back on and often it ended up in long BSB sets until the end.”
Freiburg’s position outside the recognised club capitals may have helped that community develop on its own terms. Root Down drew regulars from across Germany, neighbouring Alsace and Switzerland, and even welcomed a group of around 50 UK clubbers who travelled over for a weekend.
“Maybe it was a bonus not to be in Berlin or New York, Freiburg remaining the best kept secret in club life, in the woods of the Black Forest ;)”
For ROOT DOWN 30, Trüby chose not to attempt an exhaustive history of everything played at the party. Such a collection would need to encompass vintage boogie, jazz, soul, funk, Brazilian and Latin records alongside its electronic selections. Instead, he looked back to the approach of 1999’s Root Down compilation on Nuphonic, bringing together music from favoured producers and guests, including Jimpster, Osunlade, Da Lata, Jazzanova and Crackazat.
The opening Flashbaxx track captures how Trüby likes to begin a night: an unhurried groove, warm Fender Rhodes chords and enough space for dancers to settle in. From there, the compilation moves towards the slower house and broken beat territory that might emerge hours later.
“Chords and harmonies are quite important in my personal musical taste plus a certain warmth and there you go.”
Compiling has been part of Trüby’s practice since the first Glücklich collection appeared on Compost Records in 1994. More recent projects, including The Aachen Jazz Files and The Catalyst Files, have allowed him to explore specific label catalogues and bring overlooked recordings to new listeners.
“I like to have a musical theme to focus on, such as a musical style, a label or more clubby sounds like in the Root Down comps.”
A compilation also offers a different relationship with time. A DJ set responds to the people in front of him and the moment they share; a collection can be revisited, allowing its less familiar records to reveal themselves gradually.
That distinction matters to a DJ whose approach to discovery has remained constant even as his equipment has changed. Root Down began in an all-vinyl era, when Trüby sometimes cut exclusive dubplates to play unreleased productions. Self-burnt CDs followed, and today he combines new music on USB with older records on vinyl.
“I like the combination of these 2 formats as much as I still enjoy doing pure vinyl sets.”
The collecting itself has never stopped. He continues to fill gaps in his shelves and reconsider records that did not connect with him first time around. Music from the 1980s and ’90s, for instance, has become a richer part of his listening than he expected when he was younger.
“There is always something new to discover and there is always something in the collection to rediscover, that maybe in the 90s wasn’t entirely my thing.”
That curiosity is also what he asks of a Root Down audience. Trüby believes familiar records can help establish trust, but he wants that trust to lead dancers towards something they have not heard before.
“I do believe in the word „edutainment“, education and / whilst entertainment.”
As Root Down enters its fourth decade, its future is not about recreating 1996. Trüby hopes to establish more regular guest nights when a suitable venue becomes available, while continuing his compilation work and developing new productions with longtime collaborator Marlow.
The aim remains remarkably close to the original idea: a dancefloor grounded in soul, jazz, funk, Afro-Latin and Brazilian music, but always receptive to what comes next.
“The combination of old & new music always worked for us.”
