DEREK BERES
Words | Beats | Postures

Derek Beres has devoted his life to exposing people to international music, yoga and mythology, and better nutritious choices as a means of creating both better individuals and a more understanding global culture. He is one of the leading figures in international music in America, working as a journalist and DJ as well as producer and presenter. He has published five books, and has contributed to dozens of magazines and websites regarding the traditional and digital realms of global music, currently writing for AOL's Shoutcast, National Geographic, Yoga Journal, Huffington Post, and Relix, among others. He is one half of global music producers EarthRise SoundSystem, which creates innovative contexts for 21th century music and cultures to be explored. He currently teaches twelve weekly yoga classes at Equinox Fitness and two at Pure Yoga. His yoga classes and music have been featured by NBC Weekend Today, ABC Eyewitness News, Fox Business, BBC, and NY1, as well as in print and online by Fitness, Yoga Journal, Boston Globe, AOL's Spinner, Newsday, MTV, NPR, and PRI.

Beres is currently a world music columnist for National Geographic World, as well as Chicago's monthly, Mindful Metropolis. He is the Indian/Middle Eastern music news columnist for AOL's Shoutcast, and also contributes to Yoga Journal, Relix, and the Huffington Post. He has written for MTV Urge, Village Voice, Pop Matters, Paste, Remix, Conscious Choice, XLR8R, Urb, Tricycle, Afropop and more, reviewing hundreds of CDs and conducting over 450 artist interviews. He spent 2.5 years as Managing Editor of Global Rhythm where he helped usher new strains of world electronica, as well as paying homage to the traditional folk sounds of the planet. He was the Content Creator for Musica Fresca, a national tour featuring Yerba Buena, Voltio, Akwid and Radio Mundial, sponsored by Yahoo! Telemundo.

Beres is a yoga instructor, also certified in Thai Yoga Massage. In 2008 he co-founded the Sacred Strength EarthRise Yoga School alongside Stephanie Culen at Equinox Fitness. His focus on integrating the various spiritual traditions and mythologies of the world shines through in his physical classes, as well as writing, in which he points out underlying themes within the global search for meaning in life. He currently teaches fourteen weekly classes at Equinox Fitness and Pure Yoga, as well as holding workshops internationally. He is also a featured yoga blogger for Gaiam's social networking sites lime.com and YogaMates.

As DJ and producer, Beres is one-half of EarthRise SoundSystem, alongside Duke Mushroom. The duo are preparing EarthRise SoundSystem: The Yoga Sessions, to be released in January 2010, as well as a host of remixes for the likes of Deva Premal, Watcha Clan, Femi Kuti, Novalima, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Nickodemus, MC Yogi, and more. He also tours internationally with GlobeSonic Sound System alongside Fabian Alsultany (GlobeSonic Entertainment) and Bill Bragin (Director of Lincoln Center's Summer Series). He recently produced the successful UFO's Over Bamako: Vieux Farka Toure Remixed (Modiba), and released his first DJ-mixed CD, Moving Stillness, (One World Music) in 2005. Beres is a regular guest at the inimitable Turntables on the Hudson parties, and was a resident DJ of Kollektiv with Karsh Kale. In New York he has DJ'd at Irving Plaza, Cielo, SOB's, Nublu, Joe's Pub, Nokia Theater, Webster Hall, Kush and countless others. Over the years he has performed alongside Jamiroquai, Ojos De Brujo, Sidestepper, Brazilian Girls, Yerba Buena, Antibalas, Cheb i Sabbah and more. Currently he is working as music supervisor for the documentary, DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

Alongside writer Dax-Devlon Ross he founded Outside the Box Publishing in 2005. Among their publications are Beres's own Sound Against Flame: The Process of Yoga and Atheism in America, Global Beat Fusion: The History of the Future of Music, and Mysterious Distance, a novel, as well as Tangled Web: The Best Music Tour You Never Heard Of, and a book of essays co-written with Ross, A Staircase of Words: Volume 1. He is currently working on his second novel, ShadowStone: The Breaking of the Vessels.

Regarding his work, kirtan master Krishna Das said, "Derek Beres is part reporter and part prophet standing in the middle of the eye of the World Music storm that is raining new musical genres on the Earth today, each one fused by the love of song and spirit." About his last book, author Daniel Pinchbeck said, "Derek Beres is a terrific writer whose work is replete with penetrating insights and gem-like details ... Beres adds a unique perspective to our cultural mix, and Sound Against Flame deserves to reach a large audience."

In the realm of lecturing, Beres is a powerful and animated speaker; his many appearances include both editions of the progressive Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta, as well as colleges such as Harvard, the University of Alabama and NYU, and he gave a lecture on the "Gods of Yoga" at ABC Home Carpet in 2007.

In 2001 Beres co-founded EarthRise Arts alongside painter Craig Anthony Miller, and their Infusion parties are known to blur the lines between music venue, art gallery and theatrical performance. In the world of theater, his play Burning Trees was featured in 2002’s Hip-Hop Theater Festival, produced by Danny Hoch.

A 1997 graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Religion, Beres entwines the mythological with the modern, showing how digital music is the first true global folk music as artists everywhere employ computers in their sonic creations. Global Beat Fusion blurs the lines between sacred and profane, highlighting today’s ritual ceremonies within club context. As NPR stated, it "is not a book about music alone. It’s about a growing worldwide community that’s searching for shared experience without politics or corporate involvement. And it could fill many different slots on the bookshelf."

Just as Beres is a syncretistic artist, his writing has been inspired by numerous sources. He is a fan of Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, Mircea Eliade, and Carl Jung, as well as lyrical writers such as Jose Saramago, John Steinbeck, Haruki Murakami, and Pablo Neruda. Global Beat Fusion further crosses lines between poetry and academia; pulling from a world of intellectual scholarship, Beres works his studies into daily life in an accessible, thorough and enjoyable manner. Knowing mind and body to be one and the same, his devoted yoga practice translates a wealth of experience onto page, approaching the physical and mental with meticulous care, discipline and fun.

To contact Derek email d [@] derekberes.com. For hi-res photos visit the Outside the Box Media Center.