By Music is a never-ending journey of discovery. While some of us might stick to well-worn paths carved out by our favourite artists and genres, Dubai-based DJ, producer and Techfui record label boss Salah Sadeq wants to lead us down lesser-known avenues to find gems we never knew existed. He’s inviting music connoisseurs in the region to give us a glimpse into their collections. Salah’s also offering unknown producers a chance to have their tracks aired – all through his weekly radio show The Crate.
As the name suggests, The Crate – aired weekly on Studio 2 FM Radio Saudi Aramco, and streamed live online via TuneIn and archived on Mixcloud – sees seasoned selector Salah and his handpicked guests crate digging that little bit deeper to weave an hour-long audio autograph, so to speak.
Your Music Journey
“The whole point of the show is to really dig into your collection and show your journey in music. What have you collected? How do you define yourself? It’s an hour for guests to define themselves musically and the crazier the collection, the better!” says Salah, who recently returned to the UAE after some time in Tbilisi (where the show was broadcast from Vodkast record store), Canada and Bahrain.
The Crate began life as a hang-out session in Salah’s living room around ten years ago. While Dubai’s electronic music scene was flourishing at that time, it was predominantly occupied by big events in big clubs.
“I started doing this thing at my place on Saturdays where I’d invite a bunch of friends over and do a live stream. Someone would bring food, someone would bring refreshments, and it was super casual. It wasn’t a party, more a hang out. Through that I met people who had a really nice, deep interest and knowledge in music.”
The seed for The Crate was planted and in the intervening years Salah has kept the online show going, producing it from various locations around the world. Then, towards the tail end of 2019, fate stepped in to give Salah and the show fresh impetus.
Studio 2 FM Radio Saudi Aramco
A fortuitous link-up through a listener in Bahrain, who became a friend, brought Salah and The Crate to the attention the chiefs at Studio 2 FM Radio Saudi Aramco – home to jazz, lounge, blues and classical music, and everything in between. After going through a screening process and impressing station heads with his plans for the show, The Crate began broadcasting on FM airwaves in March.
“Once we agreed to do the show on Studio 2, it gave me a drive to get back into gear with all the ideas that I had,” says Salah. “The motivation and reason got lit again.”
And he has plenty of ideas. Guest curators have always been a central part of The Crate. Recent guests have included much-loved Dubai DJ Jason Pinto (whose selection traversed from Nina Simone to Soul II Soul to Aretha Franklin), sorely-missed former Dubai resident DJ MoCity (Instinct feat. Ustaad Bismillah Khan to Native Indian to IJA) and Jordanian Mr. Kicks (Grandbrothers to Maribou State to Marina Satti). Now Salah is widening the net to find passionate music heads willing to share their tunes – and you don’t need to be a DJ.
Interesting People
“We’d love to have anyone approach us to do an episode because they feel they have a special collection to share,” he says. “I don’t think the person needs to be a DJ. I’ve met many people who are not DJs and they have amazing record collections. Or music collections, be it digital. It could be a chef or a painter with great taste in music. They don’t need to know how to mix; just how to build a nice story. What I don’t want is, like, one hour of ambient music because it’s not an ambient show but I don’t mind if they start with ambient and take it from there.
“I want to find more interesting people to get involved – and more girls. I know there are girls around the region also into this. I’m trying to mix it up.”
Searching for New Music
Salah, whose own DJ career spans nearly 30 years, is also searching for new music from the region’s as yet undiscovered artists.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s signed to a label or unsigned because if it’s good, it’s good. I want to highlight it – support it through the radio show and our social channels. I’d love to be saying things like, ‘Listen to this guy or girl from Abu Dhabi. Or check out this track from Jeddah.’
“For me, when I’m DJing, the best reaction isn’t ‘Your music was great’ – which is always nice to hear – but ‘What was that third track?’ or ‘Who was the girl singing on the last track?’ I feel better when I’ve shared some information like that. I love those type of conversations.
“There have also been instances where I’ve connect artists to the right people for production support or technical support or even labels,” says Salah. “I love being able to facilitate those connections and conversations.”
Diplomatic Feedback
The Techfui boss understands that new young producers might be shy to put their tracks out there for scrutiny but promises fair and diplomatic feedback. “I have no right to dismiss anything,” he says. “I may not like a style but that doesn’t mean that the production value is not good or the idea is not good. So I always point these things out.
“Sometimes people send me stuff for my label and I’m like, ‘This is not what I’d release but I have to tell you the production is good. There are different parts to consider – does this person have something special in their sound? Is their work ethic really good, or the production value? You’d be surprised – there are kids out there who’ve barely been making music for a year and their production value and finishing is better than some people I know who’ve been making music for 10 years.”
Fresh Ideas
More than anything, what makes Salah’s ears prick up these days is fresh ideas. “Anything with a nice, cutting-edge fresh feel will get my attention,” he advises. “Not cut and paste. I don’t like generic music because generic music means that you’re just copying a formula that is either trendy or you think it’s popular or it’s easy to digest but that type of stuff is also easy to forget. So, for me, it’s very interesting to hear something different. When you’re somebody that listens to music, day in, day out, you can spot something that’s special quite quickly.”
A fierce advocate of bringing people together through music, art and culture, Salah adds: “We’re open to other suggestions for potential content collaborations, like if someone wants to review releases in a creative way. And the collaborative approach doesn’t have to stop at music. We source photographers to showcase their work on our artwork so there are opportunities there too.”
Want to get involved? Then drop Salah a friendly email or connect with him via The Crate’s Twitter or Instagram channels. He’s looking forward to hearing from you.
