Language / Língua:
From the greatest arenas of the NBA, the most famous stadiums of Major League Baseball, and the grand competitions of four different Olympic Games, Robert Grabko made a name for himself entertaining and inspiring worldwide audiences of millions of live TV viewers as a sought-after vision mixer in the United States, earning Emmy Awards as a leader of three different technical teams. Fulfilled in many ways by this first phase of his career, Robert decided to step up his game in pursuit of his passion to entertain and inspire people. So he went all-in, committed to a new direction as a DJ and producer, and moved to Portugal.
The new decade has arrived, and djGrabko stands ready to continue his journey from the arenas of sport to the club spaces and festival stages where Portugal goes to find inspiration in uplifting trance, house and pop music... striving to spread positive energy in today’s challenging world, and create an unforgettable experience for each audience at every stop along the way.
Why Portugal?
Success in a new industry by way of a foreign country certainly wasn't the easiest path to take, but the way Robert saw it, the added challenge of immersing himself into a new culture and language would offer greater growth and versatility as an artist and producer in the long run. As it turns out, Lisbon is indeed a crossroads of many cultures, Lusophone and otherwise, today as it has been throughout history. Starting in 2007, Robert developed an intimate connection with the Brazilian community in his home state of California, and his own development with the Portuguese language grew steadily from there. He visited eight states in Brazil during extended trips between 2012 and 2016, including his assignment at the Rio Olympics. In 2015 he made chance connections with some promising Portuguese musical talents, and in January 2018 had the opportunity to visit Lisbon for the first time, meet some key players in the music industry there and observe their production work first-hand. It was then that he decided to go “all-in” for Lisbon, a move both of residence and of commitment to succeed in a new industry and chapter in his career, with the decisive spirit of “no looking back” and “never too late.”
After his migration to Lisbon was complete at the end of 2018, Robert turned to the experts at proDJ Academy to get up to speed and gain clarity of the vast range of techniques and tools in the industry of modern music production, and to expand his network of colleagues among the country’s talented up-and-coming producers. Here he also brought his previously self-taught skills as a DJ up to date, gaining experience with the latest and greatest gear in the industry from some of the country’s most well-known DJ talent. For more than a decade Robert had been developing his craft and his music library as a casual side-hustle to his high-profile television work, performing occasionally as an amateur and publishing regular mix sessions online. Today, as this past experience converges with the completion of his current training, he is already gaining attention from his performances as part of the Cultura FNAC series in Cascais and Chiado.
djGrabko Saturday Night
Live at FNAC, Cascais, Portugal