Maurice Joseph François Engelen (born 7 January 1959), known by his stage name Praga Khan, is a Belgian electronic musician. Khan is considered one of the leading pioneers of the

new beat New beat is a Belgian electronic dance music genre that fuses elements of new wave, hi-NRG,Simon Reynolds: ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture.'' Routledge 1999, , p. 124. EBM and hip hop (e.g. scratching).Tim ...

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

electronic dance music scene that originated in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. Khan has also contributed to the theatrical scene with his musical collaborations in ''The Next Dimension'' and ''Code Red''.

Career

In the late 1980s, Engelen teamed up with Jade 4U (

Nikkie van Lierop Milk Inc. is a dance music group that formed in the commercial dance scene in Belgium in 1995. The discography of the group includes a total of seven studio albums and 41 singles. History Milk Inc. released their first hit single "La Vache" i ...

) and Olivier Adams to form

Lords of Acid Lords of Acid is a Belgian/American electronic dance music (EDM) group led by musician Praga Khan. They are best known for making songs with sexual lyrics and sexually explicit tracks, such as their hit "Pussy". History Lords of Acid debu ...

and multiple other projects including Channel X and Digital Orgasm. Khan's most famous solo work is "Injected with a Poison" (1992). The single "Free Your Body / Injected with a Poison", by Praga Khan featuring Jade 4U, reached #16 in the UK. "Rave Alert" also charted (#39). In 1992, Channel X's "Rave the Rhythm" was included in the soundtrack for ''

Basic Instinct ''Basic Instinct'' is a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film follows San Francisco police detective Nick Curran ( Michael Douglas), who is investigating the brutal murder of a w ...

'', after director

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...

had by chance heard the track in a New York City disco during the shooting. After this, other tracks were included into other movies, including '' Sliver'', ''

Virtuosity ''Virtuosity'' is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Howard W. Koch Jr. served as an executive producer for the film. The film was released in the United St ...

'', '' Strange Days'' and ''

Bad Lieutenant ''Bad Lieutenant'' is a 1992 American neo-noir crime film directed by Abel Ferrara. The film stars Harvey Keitel as the titular "bad lieutenant" as well as Victor Argo and Paul Calderón. The screenplay was co-written by Ferrara with actress-mod ...

''. He also composed a music album for the video game, '' Mortal Kombat'', with Olivier Adams as The Immortals. Khan produced three mixes of the song " Again" for the band

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

, released as B-sides on international CD singles in 1996. In the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

of 1999's '' Music Bank'' box set collection, Alice in Chains guitarist

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...

said of the mixes: With the release of the CD ''21st Century Skin'' in 1999, Khan became a major music act in his home country. The album included the singles "Breakfast in Vegas", "Luv U Still" (Pragamatic) and "Lonely". The album sold more than 25,000 copies. This earned him a place at

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best fest ...

, where he performed live. At the end of 1999, Praga Khan performed as a solo act in the United States for the first time (as an opener for Lords of Acid, with the same musicians) and released the album ''Mutant Funk'' that same year. The album rapidly climbed the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ta ...

, spending two weeks at No. 2 in the Belgian album chart. The band performed at Werchter again, this time as headliners on the big stage on the first day. This was the first Belgian act to achieve this. The album was a success and included the hits "Power of the Flower", "Sayonara Greetings", and "Love". Praga Khan also appeared as a judge on the Belgian edition of ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003) ...

''. In June 2010, Khan announced that the Lords of Acid project would be touring the US during July and August 2010, bringing along their friends,

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (often shortened to Thrill Kill Kult or TKK) is an American electronic industrial rock band originally based in Chicago and founded by Groovie Mann (born Frankie Nardiello) and Buzz McCoy (born Marston Daley) ...

, for what was being billed as the "Sextreme Ball". Although the Lords of Acid had indicated that there was a dispute over the ownership of some of their "official" websites, Khan began using his personal and professional social media accounts, to help raise awareness of the tour. Praga Khan released the album '' SoulSplitter'' in 2013 and performed a concert at

Ancienne Belgique Ancienne Belgique (French for "Old Belgium") is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and l ...

(with support by

Psy'Aviah Psy'Aviah is an electronic rock band from Antwerp, Belgium. Career The band were formed in 2004. Later that year, they won the Studio Brussel Demopoll with the song "The Future of the Sun". In 2007, they teamed up with Len Lemeire (from Impl ...

) to celebrate 25 years on stage. Praga Khan announced via his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that his 10th album ''MindSnatcher'' would be released on 31 March 2015, but the album was delayed due to the re-establishment of Praga Khan's second studio. The new album was renamed ''MindGames'' and the release date was rescheduled for 27 October 2016 but further postponements led the CD to ultimately be released on May 21, 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

A Spoonful of Miracle ''A Spoonful of Miracle'' is the debut studio album by Praga Khan. It was released in 1993 and is credited as Praga Khan & Jade 4 U. With the exception of the tracks "Give Me Your Lovin'", Flesh & Blood", "I Will Survive", and "Love-Peace-Freedom" ...

'' (1993) * '' Conquers Your Love'' (1996) * ''

Pragamatic ''Pragamatic'' is the third studio album by Praga Khan. It was released in 1998 and featured a new version of " Injected with a Poison". The Never Records pressing came packaged with a bonus disc titled '' jected Tracks'' containing four Lords of ...

'' (1998) * ''

Twenty First Century Skin ''Twenty First Century Skin'' is the fourth studio album by Praga Khan Maurice Joseph François Engelen (born 7 January 1959), known by his stage name Praga Khan, is a Belgian electronic musician. Khan is considered one of the leading pioneers o ...

'' (1999) * ''

Mutant Funk ''Mutant Funk'' is the fifth studio album by Praga Khan Maurice Joseph François Engelen (born 7 January 1959), known by his stage name Praga Khan, is a Belgian electronic musician. Khan is considered one of the leading pioneers of the new bea ...

'' (2000) * '' Freakazoids'' (2002) * '' Electric Religion'' (2004) * '' Soundscraper'' (2006) * '' SoulSplitter'' (2013) * ''MindGames'' (2017)

Other works

Praga Khan has recorded material with Olivier Adams and Nikkie Van Lierop (Jade 4U) frequently simultaneously. These names include, but are not limited to, Digital Orgasm, The Immortals,

and MNO.

References

External links

Praga Khan website

Praga Khan Dutch website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Praga Living people Belgian dance musicians Belgian techno musicians Techno musicians Hardcore techno musicians Belgian film score composers Male film score composers People from Herselt 1959 births 21st-century Belgian musicians 20th-century Belgian musicians 20th-century composers 21st-century composers 20th-century Belgian male musicians 21st-century male musicians