Sama Abdulhadi Returns With New Music And An Important Message
If there is a DJ who can help loosen the fist and let the soft power of dance find an outlet for those caught in political turmoil for a second, it is Abdulhadi. Born in Jordan and raised in Palestine, the producer took the world by storm almost five years ago with his "Boiler Room" concert in Palestine. The video has already garnered over ten million views on YouTube.
The juicy, hard and fast techno tracks that Abdulhadi created during the hour-long show took him to cinemas all over the world. This weekend he returned to Miami Beach to become a resident of Ultra Music Festival Resistance M2, where he will record for Belgian producer Charlotte de Wit.
“It depends on the people, it always depends on them,” he says of what the crowd in his Parisian home expects from him. “When Charlotte and I play, we count each other's sets, so it's me and her and you're a little bit in the middle. I take the DJ in front of me and go where I want.”
Abdulhadi's earliest memories are of playing the piano at the age of 6. He then turned to hip-hop DJs and made a big transition to electronic music; at first, as a fan of music, he came to the opening ceremony and left before it was over. .
“I have been dancing for 15 years,” he added. “At the first festival I went to, I didn’t sleep for almost five days. I never knew this would be the last show I would see.
Abdulhadi began playing in small kitchens in and around Palestine and within a few years became a popular band traveling the world. His ability to play fast and energetic techno strong enough to shake the club's foundation draws them to the dance floor.
However, there is one thing that the top producer did not do: he did not release an EP of his work. Her debut EP is currently untitled but is in development.
“The track has vocals from a friend of mine who plays in a Palestinian band called 47Soul and I started cutting it up,” added Abdulhadi. “I hate playing my own music, but for Mixmag London my manager made me play and it was amazing. And then I played it over and over again and I had to stop it so it wouldn't get out of date before I released it."
Abdulhadi is happy to have released the EP before being asked to release a single. While finishing work has been completed, a release date has yet to be announced.
"I don't know the release date. I finished the EP and that's enough to celebrate," he jokes. "It was with this lead that the ignition finally came on and I'm ready to produce more."
As his profile grows, Abdulhadi stays true to his roots, not letting fame blind him to why he got into acting in the first place. This month, he will launch the International Sustainability Nights series, which aims to shed light on marginalized artists and creators around the world who would otherwise be silenced in an international forum. The first exhibition will be in Beirut (Lebanon).
“I have always been a person focused on the Arab world,” he says. “However, during my travels, I met people from other cultures such as Latin America and Eastern Europe. Everyone there cowered and waited until the next day to find out,” he says. "They catch all the corruption and wait until tomorrow."
While the problems in Palestine may be different from those elsewhere, Abdulhadi believes that everyone dances to music in the same way.
“We feel our pain, and I wanted to find something that would shed light on Palestine,” she explained.
In this way, Abdulhadi wants to show not only himself but also his allies the power of music, hoping that participants from all over the world will have the opportunity to have fun and dance. He considers it a symbolic victory when he succeeds.
“I discovered, I saw, I was surprised and inspired, I organized my brain and saw who I am, what I should represent, where I want to go and what is my goal. I always open up,” says Abdulhadi.
Abdulhadi himself. With Charlotte DeWitt and Carlo Lio. 11:00 PM, Sunday, May 7, M2, 1235 Washington Ave, Miami Beach; 305-771-0388; Tickets are $99.49 on Resistancemiami.com.
