Rui da Silva, 33, has long been recognized as one of Portugal's most precious exports. His name is now synonymous with quality dance music. Since 2000 when Rui unleashed the gargantuan number 1 hit single 'Touch Me' onto the dance scene, his name has shot to stellar proportions as one of the world's best tribal/progressive DJs and producers.

On June 14 he finally came to Poland and played on the "Isle of MTV" party in Piekarnia. I hooked up with him in the club and here's what he revealed for Soundrevolt. Enjoy!

Big thanks for Maciek from Amoeba agency for making this interview possible.

Sound Revolt: Why did you start producing? I mean, in the early 90s you had to be a pioneer in Portugal.
Rui Da Silva: Yes. I was actually one of the pioneers because there was nobody doing dance music in Portugal. I did my first white labels, some promos, went to London, sold a few records and came back. Then I got in touch with dj Vibe who was one of the pioneers on the scene as well. We end up forming Underground Sound Of Lisbon, which got a lot of success in the early 90s in New York and all around the world.

Sound Revolt: Yes, but what encouraged you to go into dance music?
Rui Da Silva: I've always been into music and I've always been into sound engineering. Then dance music came along in the end of the 80s. There was this new thing coming from England and I really enjoyed the fact that it was only about the sound not anything else.

Sound Revolt: How's the scene in Portugal doing at the moment?
Rui Da Silva: It's doing very well. I go there quite often but I don't live there anymore. But every time I go there it's always a great time. There's lots of dance labels, lots of djs, producers. Many of them gained recognition all around the world so I'm quite happy with that. I feel that the success of "Touch Me" influenced Portugal the way Daft Punk did to the dance scene in France. "Touch Me" helped a lot of the portuguese artists to believe that they can do it and they've been really working hard.

Sound Revolt: Why did you decide to set up a new label in 2000? Did you just want to have a label of your own, or maybe there was something wrong with Kaos?
Rui Da Silva: I funded Kaos and when I moved to the UK, I decided to sell my shares. I needed a label to put my music out in England so I set up Kismet.

Sound Revolt: At the beginning of your carrier you were mostly a producer. After the success of "Touch Me" you went into dj'ing as well. What's it look like right now? What takes most of your time? Producing, dj'ing or label management?
Rui Da Silva: It's been a lot of the time dj'ing for the last two years. Sometimes I would prefer to stay in the studio but it's difficult these days. It's because of the transition period from buying vinyls and cds to downloading mp3s. It's a hard time for everybody. That's why I've been dj'ing. But also because people wanted to see what my music is about and just I decided to go and show them.

Sound Revolt: What can you tell me about the 100 thousand punds fine for sampling "chant no.1" for "Touch Me"? How do you feel about this?
Rui Da Silva: It was not a fine. I was sued by BMG and I had to pay legal costs and give share of the song away, because of the sample.

Sound Revolt: Didn't you object to that?
Rui Da Silva: No. I was not impressed with how things went but unfortunatelly if you incorporate someone else's song into your song it's still considered a crime. In music it is considered a crime, whereas in painting it's not considered a crime. Andy Warhol used to do that with the Campbell's soup and Marylin Monroe's images and never got sued. It was actually considered art. But in music it's just a different story. It's definitely art but it's more behind in terms of creativity and cutting edge because it's controled by big record companies.

Sound Revolt: Could you describe in two words the music that you produce under different names. What did you want to accomplish by each project? I'll say the name... you tell the story: Rui Da Silva?
Rui Da Silva: It's me solo and it's mainly more vocal friendly and mainstream music. It's not so deep and emotional.

Sound Revolt: Doctor J
Rui Da Silva: Doctor J is someone else that doesn't exist anymore (laugh). And seriously it was the name that I used when I was recording in Portugal. When I went to London I decided to kill Doctor J and create Rui Da Silva.

Sound Revolt: Teimoso
Rui Da Silva: Teimoso is a different name. It's for more driving tracks. It was a name that I came up with when I did a track for Hooj Choons.

Sound Revolt: Saffron
Rui Da Silva: Saffron was the first mix I did when I got into London. That was my first remix. I chose the name because my dog is called Saffron, the street where I got my studio is called Saffron and Saffron is one of the main parts of my life.

Sound Revolt: The Four Elements
Rui Da Silva: I've created "Earth" in Portugal quite a few years ago and then I lost the track. When I moved to London I found "Earth" and I decided to create "Water" at the same time which end up being the third release on Kismet. Then last year I created "Fire" and "Fifth Element". And this week I was working on "Air" which I played tonight. It was one of the first mixes, some kind of demo mix. It's not finished yet but it worked very well tonight.

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