Sefa Jeroen Vlaarkamp, better known by his stage nameSefa, is a DutchfrenchcoreDJ and record producer. He is active in the frenchcore scene, but is known for branching out and collaborating with artists in other styles. Sefa is also known for performing live on the piano during his performances and for the classical influences in his music.
Biography
Sefa was born in Alkmaar, The Netherlands on the 30th of June, 2000. At the age of 9, he was exposed to the world of music production when he saw a copy of FL Studiofor the first time. Although he didn't have an interest in producing music before, seeing the software sparked something inside Sefa. He asked his mother for some music production software for his 10th birthday and put his full focus towards figuring out how to make music. During this time, Sefa was more interested in producing hardstyle, inspired by artists such as Headhunterz and Noisecontrollers. In 2011, through a coincidence in his home town of Castricum, Sefa's mother met Dr. Peacock and asked him to give Sefa some feedback. Dr. Peacock took an interest to Sefa and introduced him to the world of frenchcore music, which changed his artistic direction and led to Sefa releasing frenchcore. In 2017, Sefa was booked to perform at the yellow stage at Defqon.1 for the first time. At the same festival, he played the piano for the first edition of Peacock in Concert, Dr. Peacock's liveact. After releasing singles for several years, 2018 saw the release of Sefa's first album "Leven is Lijden". The album was very successful, launching Sefa's career beyond the frenchcore scene and into the mainstream of hard dance music. In May 2018, Sefa performed at Harmony of Hardcore live with a piano. In this set, Sefa premiered several tracks, including "Nothing Like The Oldschool" with D-Sturb, "In De Hemel" and "God's Plan" with Mr. Ivex. The summer saw Sefa perform at the black stage at Defqon.1 as well as part of Peacock in Concert on the main stage of the festival. This was the first time that frenchcore music was ever performed at the main stage of Defqon.1. In 2019, Sefa played a solo set on the red stage of Defqon.1 on his 19th birthday, and was responsible for one of the anthems of the festival. 2019 was the first year that Defqon.1 had a frenchcore anthem. That following September, Sefa performed with a full orchestra at IMPAQT festival in Germany. 2019 was also the year that Sefa's career expanded into North America and Asia, with performances in the United States, China and Mexico. In October 2019, Sefa announced that he would no longer be part of Peacock in Concert in order to focus on his own performances.
