The Ties That Bind: Saudi DJs debuted at Sandbox

People danced for hours to electronic sounds on El Gouna's pristine Red Sea beaches.

Their faces and bodies covered with psychedelic attire, accessories, body paint, and jewels as they twirled to captivating sounds by international, Egyptian, and Arab DJs at the ninth edition of Sandbox, the famed electronic music festival held each May on the beaches of Egypt’s resort town.

This year witnessed the first participation of Saudi DJs in the decade-old festival: Mohannad Nassar, who goes by the pseudonym Vinyl Mode, and Ahmad Alammary, aka Baloo. “It was thrilling,” says Baloo, who is also MDLBEAST’s chief creative officer, indicating that he’d love to return and play at the festival.

Our understanding of each other as regional scenes have grown tremendously.

Known as the godfather of Saudi electronic music, he has been pushing the Kingdom’s music and underground scene for decades. The musician known for seductive and groovy mixes added: “I always do my thing. I play my sound. The only things I tend to adapt to are spaces and time slots. I played from 7.30pm to 9pm, and then was asked to play an extra hour because one of the other artists was delayed. I made the best of my experience and enjoyed every minute of that extra hour.”

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Tito El Kachab, a DJ and the founder and managing partner of Nacelle (the company that launched and organises Sandbox), confirmed the record number of over 300 Saudi visitors at the festival. For around 15 years, Tito has spurred the Egyptian music scene, creating house sessions and introducing different house genres to the Egyptian community, with the goal to increase creativity and experimentation.

“We went to XP Music Futures in Riyadh after they invited us,” says Tito. “We wanted to make sure we
invited them here after we heard the music being played in Saudi.”

“Our most exciting social glue is music,” confirms Baloo. “Since we launched Soundstorm and XP Music Futures, our understanding of each other as regional scenes has grown tremendously, and we are seeing the results of that. More travelling for music on a regional level, more exposure to regional talent, and finally more camaraderie among the talent. This is what the regional scene can grow to become; we have so much talent here and our people are seeing it.”

Vinyl Mode, one of Saudi’s electronic pioneers, played his deep house Saudi underground beats to a crowd of listeners and dancers. “It was one of my best experiences, loved the vibe,” he said, emphasising how he also tried to infuse some Egyptian beats into his mixes. “I prepared the special sample from my Egyptian movie, then mixed it live and it was really fun. People really went crazy with it.”

Referencing his and Baloo’s acts, and the number of Saudis who bought tickets to fly in and enjoy the event, he added: “It really means so much to be able to represent my country as a Saudi DJ at a festival like this. I feel closer to Egypt now as well.” Nacelle, which has been pushing events and entertainment boundaries in Egypt for over a decade, has set up two other festival brands.

Shorelines Festival centres itself around some of the largest live acts performing in Almaza Bay on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, while the Middle East Music Event is known for welcoming the biggest lineup of regional acts ever assembled in one event in Cairo.

Sandbox reflects the universal beauty of the type of music it celebrates. The increased participation of Saudi guests and artists this year only further demonstrates the festival’s growing internationalism. As the founders of Nacelle would say: “We do it for music, we do it for the people, we do it."