Acclaimed Paris DJ of ‘Hotel Costes’ fame live in Seoul

Stephane Pompougnac, the French DJ behind the phenomenally successful “Hotel Costes” albums, will perform live here in Seoul tomorrow night at Woo Bar in the W Seoul Hotel in eastern Seoul.
For globetrotting trendsetters, 239 Rue Saint-Honore, Paris, where the famed Hotel Costes stands, has been the address of uber-chic. The hotel is so perennially booked by A-list guests that for Hotel Costes fanatics, it opened an alternative establishment, Costes K Palace, near the Eiffel Tower.
Hotel Costes is the acclaimed French interior designer Jacques Garcia’s imagination sculpted in reality. By night and day, the plush seats of its bar and courtyard cafe cradle the derrieres of international hipsters seeking pleasure Parisian-style.
Situated right at the heart of the trendiest and the most expensive district in Paris, the hotel is a den of opulence and old-world decadence, with a sense of intimacy. Everyone who’s been inside the hotel for a night or dinner will remember the sensual mood and silky, sultry lounge music that fills the air.
It didn’t take long for Hotel Costes fans to buy the hotel’s own CDs sold in the lobby and also spread word about the specially selected songs remixed by Stephane Pompougnac, who started off as the DJ there.
By 2002, when his third volume, “Etage 3,” came out under the “Hotel Costes” compilation series, the DJ had become a global star. He is most credited with remaking and remixing familiar classic tunes; songs like “Ambrosia,” “Where Do I Begin” and Grace Jone’s 1981 classic “Libertango,” which he once again made hip in trendy cafes, bars and restaurants around the world.
The range of music featured in “Hotel Costes” is anywhere from the classic “My Funny Valentine” featuring sultry female vocals through subdued samba, “The Brazilian Hipster ― The Fort Knox Five,” to the lightly swinging “Hip Hip Chin Chin.”
Along with the “Buddha Bar” series also born out of a Paris establishment, the “Hotel Costes” albums have become the hallmark of lounge music.
The trend has moved on, but the French DJ has continued to remake songs for “Hotel Costes.” With several other spin-offs, by September, 2005, Stephane Pompougnac had released eight “Hotel Costes” volumes.

by Ines Cho

A ticket costs 40,000 won ($40). Stephane Pompougnac will be performing three sets from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. For more information, contact Riskei at 02-542-1457.