#nohijo

[headrush]

November 2016

[fibrepassion]

“TOO STRONG OF A CHORD.”

      We are cheekily sitting beside the waterfront of Souk Madinat Jumeirah on a hazy lazy Saturday afternoon and brown pillars are sheltering us from the light breeze. Salah Sadeq is a man on the go, constantly involved in something and he loves to keep busy. On his day off, he is moved by soaking up some culture and immersing himself in light and good-natured conversation, currently shaped around his fresh new dedication to being a vegan. A couple of hours into our sitting after a bird sprinkled some good luck into his lavish locks, we are laughing and exchanging stories, and he is delivering the truth. Despite his deep voice and larger than life vocabulary, which can be somewhat intimidating, he is in fact an honest, humble and loving person. He managed to use the word ‘doppelganger’ in a mundane sentence. “Too Strong” is not only the name of Salah’s label’s new EP, but also, quite succinctly, a term to describe the bond of his musical family - Techfui.

A designer, DJ, producer and head of his own label (Techfui) Salah has been in the game for over 20 years. Having started off in Bahrain where he lived most of his life, he was not aware of where the road would eventually take him. Opening the path as a DJ, he was first spotted in 1999 on the decks in what we now know as Sin City, Bahrain - ironically, a city at the time that was not ready for this scene according to Salah. He was being approached, being asked for CDs of his mixes and he felt like he was handing out presents to his friends, not knowing that he was doing something that the people were recognising and loving. One after party conversation triggers a thought as he discusses with a friend the possibility of creating his own label, now Techfui. For the name, he cleverly played with the concept of Feng Shui, a Chinese philosophical concept based around energy, renewal and the connection of people with the earth – a perfect resemblance to the identity of his label. For Salah, the key in bringing people together for his label, is the sense of chemistry and energy that must synchronise together. His work ethics means that the material and superficial elements that may pop up in the midst of the chaos must be stripped back, left behind leaving strictly at the forefront a sense of familial connection.

“Why am I going to make my own label?”

The community in Bahrain quickly exploded, bursting wide open pushing him to realise that “wanting to DJ and to have a good time” would have to transition to, “Ok, I have to start making my own music.” It was not an obligation, but rather the right time as he was feeling the urge. It was this exact realisation that allowed him to continue to do what he loves best with his music - surprising the crowd with his distinct sounds and taking them out of their element. It is one thing to make people to dance to a track that they love, and yet another thing to make them dance to sounds they do not know. He dabbles with natural, analog and instrumental sounds incorporating a lot of ‘old’ and ‘new’ elements. When asked at what point he is at his highest and most inspired, he answers when he is “emotionally down and sensitive.” Whoever said misery is an out-dated muse is sadly mistaken.

His path eventually leads him to Dubai, his new home. It was never smooth sailing for Salah. He shares with us the difficulty of finding and creating his own identity in a new city that was also disconnected from the scene. He compares it to building a brand and striving to have full control of the image of his identity. For him, it at times felt impossible to produce his own music as he felt “far away from the scene.” He was also conscious of not only booking ‘big names’ as that would be defeating his main purpose and the identity of Techfui, which is to create a platform for people with talent, creating spaces for them and feeding people’s reactions. And so, he decided to keep it simple and until now, he works on a first come first serve basis, recruiting artists from Canada, Turkey and Georgia into the family. A family where everyone is doing something they want and love, where more often than not, everything comes together organically, and luckily, every member is happy with the final result.  

The sun is setting on our thoughts and Kool & The Gang is playing in the background. He remembers his first time at Time Warp where he saw Sven Väth perform, he came in at the peak of the party and about twenty percent of the crowd cleared out as he did not go as hard as they were expecting at first. This got us thinking about the meaning of music at parties, an audience’s expectations and the organisers’ motivation, so we bounced some ideas back and forth. Salah asks, “Why does it always appear that people are waiting for something?” No one is to be held entirely accountable for the emptying out of a club beside ourselves; each and every single one of us who is involved. It is our lack of patience, endurance and curiosity that demeans the essence of music. Yet there is also a matter of taste, which is probable cause in justifying our freedom to stay and listen at a party, or to leave without looking back. Forever questionable indeed, yet it is our own responsibility to discover what we are getting ourselves into before a night out.

“There are so many ways to dance.”

Keeping true to himself and what he stands for, now launched is the second release of the year for Techfui featuring 2 tracks by Nohijo (Lee Sandwith) and 2 mixes by Tolga Fidan and Monsafe. The release party is around the corner and it will be featuring the EP main man Nohijo who comes from the U.K. and who recently moved to Dubai from Abu Dhabi with an obsession for electronic music, Tolga Fidan a soul from Turkey whom Salah describes as a "beautiful person" and Monsafe as well as CIRYL (Cyrill Reaidy) from Lebanon, the newest addition to the family. The set will close with Salah and Nasrawi, both already well-loved names, playing back to back. Seeking Nasrawi, he specifically longed for someone to bring to the table a sense of diversity and knowledge, and with this, you can expect an eclectic, spacey, groovy, stripped back, raw and dub-like-feel for the night.

It is at times a challenge for Salah to maintain the ins and outs of his identity and his label, to keep it on the ground. Yet he tries to do so by adhering to his golden rules, which are based around respect. Respect for the variations within the scene, respect for the artists, organisers and the approach of working together. In an environment where people change radically and rapidly, it is essential to be honest and true. The sun has not set entirely yet and Salah’s story is still to be continued. His momentum will keep on, radiating a sweet energy, to have a muse to play for and the crossing of lines in his musical configuration that will continue to build the strong chords of his family.

//

Writer/Editor: @madradar​

Photographer/Editor in chief: @nehmew​

[mfnocturnalism]

Nohijo - Do It All Night (Moodymanc's Breakhouse Mix) / Oh So Coy Nohijo: Soundcloud / Facebook Moodymanc: Soundcloud / Facebook / Discogs Oh So Coy: Website / Soundcloud / Discogs