Said Mrad is a world famous Lebanese DJ on the cutting edge of song remixing. He is most popular for reinvigorating Oriental music with his remixes of classical Arabic musicians and contemporary dance beats. Mrad sat down with The Daily Star Egypt, after a recent performance at Club Bliss, to speak about his influences, his musical development, his popularity, and the role of art in the Middle East. The Daily Star Egypt: When did your music become international? When I first invented the "Oriental Beat with the remix of the diva Om Kalthoum. My music crossed all over the Old Continent and America. It was the new style in dance music. Why do you think your sound has gained such popularity?Because there is a lot of variety and fusion in my music. Every song that I make has its own spirit, its own feeling and innovation. The mixing between oriental sounds and occidental sounds was a real success for the music world. How often do you travel outside of Lebanon to DJ?Well, it depends on the season. When there is a high season, I travel two or three times per month and on the dead season, once a month. You recently spun at Club Bliss in Cairo to a packed room, describe your most popular performance venues and how they differ. Every crowd has its atmosphere, music, and style. For example, when I am DJing in London, I play Funk, House, Latin, and Oriental Beat. When I am in Greece, I play Greek songs remixed, Oriental House, and House and so on... My most popular performance was in Beirut when I played an after hour set with Paul Oakenfold in 2004. In all, every country has its beautiful crowd. You re-remixed songs by Jay Z and Punjabi MC, which sample traditional Oriental music. What do you think your relationship is to the Arabic and Indian influences on hip hop these days? Usually, I like to have several tunes remixed by me exclusively. When people come to my events, they notice that there is something different in the air. They are the same songs they know, but they are hearing them in a different way, my way of remixing. You have been described as a "surgeon, meticulously attending to your work with order and precision. Tell me about the process of mixing songs and performing for you? I believe in perfection and that is what I am trying to do in my work. When I hear an old song and it catches me, I immediately move to make a remix. I do all the electro projects in my home studio, then move on to get musicians, then take it to the recording studio, put all the sounds needed, like strings, kanoun, flute, etc., and finally, begin the process of mixing and mastering. What helps me most is that as a DJ, I can try the impact of the song on the people during my events. That way, if it needs some modifications, I will do them before I launch it in the market. How did you come about the idea to remix artists like Om Kalthoum? Tell me about your relationship to the artist.Being a DJ and seeing 80% of DJ's playing the same music, I got the thought of being different than the others. I was so involved in the computer world, so I began searching for programs where I could transform my vision into reality. I always like Om Kalthoum and especially "Alf Leila wa Leila. For me, it's the best piece ever made in music. My vision was to create something out of it and that is what happened. What other artists do you remix and how do you choose them? I don't chose artists to remix. Some of them will contact me to do a remix and others won't. There are a lot of songs that I remix just to play at my events, while others are launched in the market by the artists themselves. I recently remixed Ricky Martin with a musician friend of mine, Dany Helou. I did a remix involving Bill Cosby and Quincy Jones, which was released in the States in 2004. I have also done remixes for Despina Vandi, Sakis Rouvas, Rida Boutros, Hasna, Amani, Dania, The Star Academy Artists in all 3 Seasons, Kathem Al Saher, Elhm El Madfai, and Toni Hanna, all of which have been distributed in the market. How do you define the role of the remix as opposed to the original?The remix is usually made when an artist wants to launch his song into the nightclub scene as a dance remixer. As a DJ, I usually know how the people will want to hear the songs. Remixing a song is as important as doing a new one from scratch. A lot of times an original song will fail, but the remix makes it a hit if it's well made. Tell me about the making of your first album and how you made the transition from live DJing to recorded music?I was DJing at the time at a club called Gota when I did the remix of Om Kalthoum. I started playing it at the club at peak time and was afraid it would not work, that people would not love it, but I was wrong. It made a huge impact. People came back just to hear the song. It was amazing! Then a friend of mine, Jean Mouawad heard about it and asked me to launch it as a single. I accepted knowing there was no CD single market in Lebanon, but it sold more than ten thousand copies. Jean and I decided to do a whole album of remixed songs with the new style of "Oriental House, and launched it worldwide under the Universal label. How did coming of age during the Lebanese Civil War influence your music? [Being born in 1968 and beginning your DJ career in 1989, your formative pre-professional years land during the apex of the conflict.] You can say I took advantage of the wartime. There was nothing to do during those awful days except studying [a little], listing to music [a lot], and practicing on the keyboard and guitar. At the age of 16, I new all types of music and had a very huge musical background. The war ended in 1990 [as they say] and I started working as a DJ in a club near my home and studying computer science In regards to your work, is there a connection between politics and art or is art an attempt to ignore politics? The only good that is left in Lebanon is that we still feel art and music! It is what kept us alive and strong all these desperate years. We love art and we live for it! There is connection between art and politics [in the aforementioned way], but [otherwise] it is limited. Do you feel you spread Arabic culture through your music?Of course. Music is an international language. Not all people know the old Arabic tunes, so I get a lot of comments and mail telling me about how some people would buy the original tunes because they felt it through my remixes. How have you preserved such a long career in the music industry?I am always up to date. I never let anything pass me by. I am always getting news from the web and buying the latest technology in music software and instruments. Most importantly, I love what I do - it's my hobby. Tell me about the music that you like to listen to outside of work.I grew up listening to Elvis Presley for R'N'R. I have two iPods full of Jazz, Blues, Acid Jazz Funk, and of course all the 70's and 80's music. Do you have a piece that you are most proud of?There are three pieces: "Flamenco Trip, "The Chant Room from "Another 1001 Nights, and "Nagham from my latest album "Esmerim . I put everything I have, every feeling, into these songs. The musicians that worked with me on these particular songs- Maurice Tawile, Dany El Helou, Claude Chalhoub, and Charbel Rouhana to name a few- were also amazing. Tell me a bit about yourself and your personal history. What was life like growing up; what is your family like; what makes you tick?I am a little bit shy. I don't like cameras. I am straightforward with people. I like food very much, especially fast food, but now my lovely wife Tonie is forbidding me from all the junk and I am eating greens most of the time. My life was so simple as a kid. My parents were great. I have two brothers and three sisters and I am the youngest, but the "biggest in size. I am happily married to my love since school days. She is a consultant in a school. We have been married 15 years, with no children yet.
