Moods 60: bakesbasha
We're headed to Amman, Jordan. Tie your shoes—we're going for a walk around the block with Ali Basha (bakesbasha).
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Up next in the Moods roster is bakesbasha (@bakesbasha), a rising US/Jordanian DJ and multidisciplinary artist. As a Developer of jordanstreetart.com and alum of MEMCO, we know Ali's selection and mix is top shelf.
Where geographically, did you grow up? Was it a single place or many places?
For most of my life, I grew up and lived in Amman, the capital city of Jordan. It is a very beautiful city with many charms, beautiful murals, and great food.
Can you pick one song in the mix and explain where you first listened to it?
The last track, Akher Ayam El Saifeye by Fairuz, is very special to me. It's a very bitter sweet song about the final days of summer. For me, summer in the song doesn't necessarily mean the actual season, but moments and phases in life you deeply cherish and miss but cannot relive. I am not sure of when I first listened to this song, but I think I might have heard it first when we learned this song in our school choir. I always listen to Fairuz during the end of summer/beginning of fall. Her songs bring out a myriad of emotions that are very powerful and hard to put into words. That's one of the many reasons why Fairuz is so revered in the Arab world, her songs just bring a unique emotional quality that is hard to find.
Who “introduced” you to these songs? Was it a person, a radio station or a CD?
For this mix, I wanted to include a wide range of varying forms of Arabic music that I grew up listening to. I was very lucky to grow up in a household and environment that loved Arabic music of many forms. One of our family pastimes was gathering around our TV and watching music videos from all around the Middle East and North Africa. From there I was exposed to many artists like Nancy Ajram, Amr Diab, and Melhem Barakat. On my way to school, the bus driver would always have the radio on the stations that would play music from around the region. My barber would have the radio playing in his shop and would sometimes play CDs from his personal collection. My father would always take me out on rides and he would play his favorite tracks from Cheb Khaled and Rachid Taha; listening to those tracks always take me back in time to when I was a little kid in the front seat of my dad's car listening to some great Algerian Raï. My mother had a love for Amr Diab, so naturally I would grow to love all his work. I was also part of my school’s choir when I was a little kid, where I would learn to sing and play many classic Arabic songs from artists like Fairuz, Abdel Haleem Hafez, and Nazem Al Ghazali. When I started my radio show in college, the internet and streaming platforms were also an amazing source to discover music I've never listened to before, but all sounded familiar and reminded me of home.
Where and when did you first hear techno? Who did it sound like it was for?
I was first exposed to techno in college. I went up to a stand with a cool looking sign spelling out MEMCO, a collective for electronic music. At first, I mistook the club for a group of people that played electric guitar, cause I saw the word “electronic” on the sign. I quickly found out that it was not that. The president, Jordan Stanton, was incredibly welcoming and taught me how to use the club's CDJs and mixer. During my first session in mixing, I was exposed to my first techno track, Never Grow Old by the legendary Detroit duo Floorplan. That track holds such a special place in my heart as my gateway into techno and into electronic music. When I first listened to it, it was a track where I felt I could get very lost, loosen up, and just have fun. MEMCO was an amazing space for those who wanted to explore new music and make very deep friendships. I mentioned previously how in Fairuz's song Akher Ayam El Saifeye, summer can represent a cherished phase or time in life. For me, my time in MEMCO was a summer in my life that has passed, but I look back on very fondly. I grew to find out that techno fosters a community like no other.
You’ve got the microphone. What do you want to say to the techno community?
Don't gatekeep. Music is made to be shared and celebrated. Learn the history, dig deep, appreciate the old heads, encourage the new heads.
Tracklist:
Qalbi w Moftaho - Farid Al Atrash
Ya Ashikat El Ward - Zaki Nassif
Amm Yess'alouni Aleyk - Majida El Roumi
Yay Yay Ya Nassini - Georgette Sayegh
Tany Tany - Afaf Rady
Oumi Ta Norkoss - Samy Clark
Bahebak Aktar - Amr Diab
Nar El Ghera - Warda
Chebba - Khaled
Almy - Ehab Tawfik
3ameli 3antar - Four Cats
Barwy - Hamid Al Shaeri
Mashya El Sanyoora - Hany Shnoda Ferqet Masr
Akher Ayam El Saifeye - Fairuz
We paired Basha’s mix with a 2018 work by Sirous Namazi titled "Unfolded." Namazi was born in Kerman, Iran, and came to Sweden at the age of fifteen. Recurring themes in his art are erased memories, forgetfulness, sight and time. The metaphors informing his work could to some extent be said to revolve around our fragility and the multiple definitions of “home.” We think both Namazi and Basha, while distinct in their own lanes and stories, resonate across these themes: how does home travel? How does it fit in your pocket, your heart, and your headphones? And, maybe most importantly, how can it be shared with others?
Read more about Namazi and his work here: www.sirousnamazi.com/
Hear more of Ali's curation on his show titled Coffeesada: www.coffeesada.xyz/
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