Producer Brian Wayy is the mastermind behind
Xcultures, an ethnic fusion project designed to meld a variety of world music samples with ethereal ambient synths and contemporary electronic beats. The sound is similar to
Deep Forest or
Enigma, but drawing from a wider palette of indigenous influences, from Scottish folk and Russian monastic chanting to Moroccan and West African vocal and percussion styles. Wayy began forming his production expertise during the late '80s, when he worked as a remixer, programmer, and sometime songwriter on records by mainstream Top 40 hitmakers like
Paula Abdul,
Stevie B.,
Rod Stewart,
Wilson Phillips,
Diana Ross,
the Doobie Brothers, and
RuPaul. From there, he moved into television scoring work circa 1994, and subsequently began pursuing his more personal muse with the
Xcultures project. The debut
Xcultures album,
One World One People, was released in early 2000. ~ Steve Huey