DJ Keb Darge live at Cubao X

Tomorrow night Monday, Dec.22, DJ Keb Darge takes to the decks and spins up a frenzy at Cubao Expo.

The event, called “Tune In, Turn On,” is presented by the Expansions duo of Caliph8 (Arvin Nogueras of Drip) & Mark Zero, who will also be spinning with fellow DJs Chi Future, Red-I, Don P & Pasta Groove.

Party kicks off at 8 p.m. with art projections and live graffiti, as the turntablists do their thing. Best of all, it’s free.

For the unfamiliar, Keb Darge is one of the foremost authorities in the fields of Northern Soul and Deep Funk. He started out as a dancer but went on to become a notable Northern Soul DJ in his native Scotland.

After moving to London, he tried to live a “normal” life but soon found himself spinning again at the behest of contacts and friends who had also moved to the city.

In 1989, when house music blew up in the UK, Darge considered making use of his massive funk collection sitting at home. He had amassed quite an impressive library of rare and obscure records through his many travels.

Several attempts to get a regular funk night going petered out until he found a strip club called Madame JoJo’s, which continues to be his main venue today, though it’s no longer a strip club.

These days he’s an in-demand DJ, flying all over the world for various gigs while still hunting for more records to add to his collection. Tomorrow, in fact, he’ll be arriving from a festival in Japan with DJ Shadow.

Darge also produces records and runs Kay-Dee Records with Kenny Dope. He may not be as famous as other DJs but he’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of ’60s and ’70s music that will be sampled tomorrow night. He’s devoted his life to mining those rich untapped music seams of forgotten and undiscovered soul/funk acts of eras past.

I first came across his work through a compilation he curated with DJ Shadow called Funk Spectrum. Other compilations of note include his solo series Keb Darge’s Legendary Deep Funk, of which three volumes are out, and The Kings of Funk with RZA. His latest is called Lost & Found, with Cut Chemist as fellow crate-digger.

These kinds of gigs come few and far between, so be there or tell your friends. This way, we can get even more and better artists to grace our shores. Sure, we get the occasional internationally renowned DJ to come over, but Keb Darge falls more on the soul/funk side of the tracks as opposed to the house/dance music side.

While I’ve got nothing against that side, some balance would be nice to hear now and then. And besides, you can still dance to funk.