mps PILOT- Introduction. mps PILOT has traveled extensively through a.o. the Balkans, Spain, India, Turkey, Morocco, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso and has immersed himself in the cutting-edge world music scene, a musical universe where exciting developments can be heard every day. In every possible direction and slippage between all different genres, mps PILOT maps the crosspollination and divergence of contemporary music. His interest in non-western music started during his time at university. Because of his interest in modern classical and experimental music he moved in 1990 to Amsterdam to enroll in the musicology department. Within the subject of ethnomusicology, however he continued to explore his fascination through sounds from all over the world. However, after seven years of studying it was time for the real thing.

mps PILOT – Facts. mps PILOT – Facts. mps PILOT’s refined yet hip mix of non-western music is nowadays appreciated way beyond Amsterdam. Since 2003 he is resident at the Sfinks Festival, Belgium. Besides the famous Amsterdam clubs like Paradiso and De Melkweg, mps PILOT is resident DJ at Ethnic Histeric, @ The Sugarfactory Amsterdam and @ Club Rasa, Rasa, Utrecht. For several years he had residencies @ Que Pasa, De Melkweg, Club Mundial, 013/Tilburg, the Global Nights in the artists’ enclave Ruigoord and Mystic Grooves, Utrecht/Amsterdam. He spins regularly for the Dutch/Maghreb organisation Marmoucha and in the Netherlands many times at festivals such as The Music Meeting, Dunya, Festival Mundial, Amsterdam Roots, Oerol, The Amsterdam Dance Event, Mysteryland, Dancevalley, 5 Days Off, The Contrabanda Festival and Lowlands. His overseas DJ trips in 2003, 2004 and 2008 brought him to Le Festival au Désert in Essakane, Mali. In 2004 mps PILOT deejayed WOMEX. In 2005 he performed during the Jaipur Festival in Rajasthan and in Bombay, India. In 2005 he stirred up 10,000 people during the Rawafid Festival in Casablanca and in 2006 & 2008 a crowd of 50,000 at the Timitar Festival in Agadir, Marokko. 2007 saw the The Sziget Festival, North Sea Jazz & Sfinks. January 2008 DJ mps PILOT traveled one month in Mali also to play for the 3rd time @ Le Festival au Désert. In 2009 it was Spain's turn with performances in Barcelona and Fuerteventura and a winter performance in Istanbul, 2010 resulted in a stunning performance at the Afro Latino Festival (B) and again at North Sea Jazz. It was was the period when mps PILOT founded Future Takamba. FUTURE TAKAMBA is a crossover project of Malian Takamba and Dutch electronic dance and trance music, enriched with VJ / visuals. A convergence of auditory and visual experiment from the Sahara and Amsterdam. DJ / Producer mps Pilot, aka Horst Timmers, was in 2003 at Festival au Desert in Mali takamba captured by the traditional music of the band 'Super 11' which has been there 30 years long term. Their repetitive deep, rootsy music consists of riffs on ngoni's (plucked lute), on vocals and percussion gourds and comes from the oral transmission of tales of nomads from the southern Sahara. Takamba music takes you literally, says Horst Timmers. "I play my electronic music live while the VJ Lotte Man creates an extra dimension with her ??visuals. Then there are the graceful dancers from the Super 11 group. This creates an intense and modern takamba experience that detachment from the ground. "performances followed this year in Belgium and the Netherlands. They performed in 2011 during the Festival au Niger, Segou, Mali and Jazzy Ben Koum Festival in Bamako, where he performed solo as well. 2011 is also the first year of his residency at Shuffle.Play in De Melkweg, Amsterdam, 
mps PILOT – Style. With an expressive and convincing execution, mps PILOT is able to let traditional and modern styles from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America flow through each other, forming a contagious sound. While many world music deejays have never heard of ‘beatmatching’, even perceiving it as deadly for the future of music, mps PILOT elevates ‘beatmatching’ to a high form of art. He weaves drum n’ bass rhythms, flamenco palmas, Indian bhangra-or Desi beats and Latin percussion solos into an organic whole. Using a rhythmic, intelligent mix technique, mps PILOT’s music functions as a mindopener.

Dj mps PILOT performed alongside artists such as the Tarafs de Haidouks (tour), Shantel, Natacha Atlas, Salif Keita, Tinariwen, Ojos De Brujo, Zuco103, Habib Koite, Mercan Dede, Yuri Buenaventura, Konono No.1, Sekouba Bambino, Mory Kante and many more. He joined several times stage with Shantel, The Future World Funk Dj’s, Bobby & Nihal, the Mr Bongo DJ’s, DJ Panko, DJ Dolores and DJ Ipek.