Back in the 90s when he was 18, Baloo remembers using two stereos next to each other to mix music.
He’d play a track on one, turn the volume down, then turn the volume back up on the other one. That’s what you do when you’re so innately driven to play music, no matter what tools you have. Later, from 2003 to around 2006, he became the only DJ in Riyadh who played using turntables and vinyl. He also considers himself fortunate in that he was someone who regularly got to spend time in theUS with family over summer during that time, in WashingtonDC and New York, where he could pour more influences into his growing musical identity.
Today he is the perfect witness to Saudi’s dance evolution since musical events slowly became permitted again from 2017. He has seen it grow from gras sroot embers during his youth, to then become the chief creative officer at MDLBEAST, the central channel through which old and new local and international acts are igniting the country’s dance – and desert – floors today.
Here he shares more about the state of the industry for Saudi DJs at home and abroad, and the role he has played in it from his uniquely insider perspective.
How has Saudi's music scene changed in the past few years?
The first Soundstorm [in 2019] was the biggest moment of transition from paranoid, underground dance communities in different cities, to one big cloud of a community. Since then, the scene’s evolved. Now we’re seeing all these kids with big dreams of becoming promoters create these party brands. So, we're starting to look a bit more like the rest of the world. But this community hasn't actually changed much in five years– it's the same people. It's just that they're all connected now. You see four or five parties happening on the same night, cannibalising each other. There’s enough of a market now for that. And we are starting to see a lot of venues pop up – we're actually launching a new one.
Tell us about that.
It’s in a cluster of concepts in one place called Attaché, which sits in the Diplomatic Quarter, where all the embassies are – it’s one of the more cosmopolitan neighbourhoods in Riyadh. Our new space used to be an equestrian club. We've taken the stable and transformed it into two big rooms, left some of the original elements in there, and called it Unstable. There’s a restaurant serving a sophisticated international menu and an outdoor space, which is something Riyadh doesn't have much of, because it's so hot.
What are you working on now?
Obviously Soundstorm festival and the next XP Music Futures conference. I’m working on a new concept that I can't say much about, but I don't mind dropping a little bit of a hint about it – it’s a new festival we're creating that is super fresh and culturally relevant. I’m also working a lot on my Gabu Music label; we're throwing events every couple of months in Jeddah and Riyadh and possibly doing a European tour soon. I have a few Eid gigs coming up. There's so much going on – it's great, because I am someone who's easily bored, and I've not been bored in five years.
What kind of artists would you like to see join MDLBEAST?
I'm very eclectic as a DJ. I have a small audience that likes deep house, but I run a festival that is for hundreds of thousands of people, so I need to be a bit more open-minded in terms of tastes and what people are looking to discover. Some love electronic music mixed with Arabic or organic instruments. That's not my music, but it's something that exists in my festival, same with different types of house music – electronic music is 100genres, if not more. As a festival producer, you also have to keep your curator hat on, because you want to expose people to new music that might not be in their spectrum of interest but is still not necessarily your taste either.
Do you feel the international music scene's attitude to Saudi artists has changed in recent years?
On a regional level, we are being booked in Tunisia, Egypt, Zanzibar, Dubai, Bahrain. A lot of Saudi artists are seeing opportunities in the UK, Spain, Romania, Berlin, Germany,Amsterdam, also places like India and Indonesia. I just played in Azerbaijan – I think I'm the only Saudi who has played there.
More places are opening their eyes towards us. It's really cool, because Saudi artists weren't doing it for the fame before, they were doing it because they wanted to do it. And so, the passion is real.
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Photography: Osama Jaberti and Taha Kattan
Photography Assistant: Mohammad Kanafani
Creative Consultant: Ali Abdelhakim
