HADJ SAMEER

HADJ SAMEER

Paris

hadj sameer, a 32 years old dj, vinyls collector and label head, originally half algerian and half turkish, has been travelling for the past dozen of years and managed to build up a solid collection of rare grooves from all around the world (from the west indies, to asia, passing by africa).

this wide universe then intertwined with his curiosity and interest for the electronic music scene all over the past twenty years including chicago house, detroit techno, uk dubstep, dnb and jungle. this knowledge was strengthened through experiences along with will bankhead and ron morelli, a few years back in london and paris, respectively running the trilogy tapes and i.i.e.s. labels. added to this, he grew up and got raised in the western suburban part of paris, just closeby where the movie la haine has been realized, where hip hop and rap shaped another facet of his musical identity.

his avid curiosity to discover new music 24/7 led him to naturally link up and create a network of friends (involving djs, music producers, labels heads, clubs owners, music media platforms) which made growth some partnerships and divers collaborations materialized with cds and cassettes mixtapes. those several projects gave hadj sameer the chance to freely express himself highlighting some part of his vinyls and tapes collection under specific thematics.

among those projects, we can list in his catalog an afro-caribbean mixtape made in 2017 as a first release with ttt label, followed by a tape glorifying a north african music genre called raï on future times label thanks to andrew (max d), after that came out in 2020 two releases, one on omnira's kassem mosse label in germany focusing on an ambient, experimental sort of sonorous collage through a very picky selection of library records and so on. and then a japanese cd mixtape paying homage to the black detroit techno scene during the 90s. the last project is a tape recently released on london based japan blues label focusing on 60s transcending western algerian women singings which partly structured raï in the next decades.

beyond physical music projects, the different encounters that hadj sameer has had gave him the opportunity to start a monthly radio show on rinse france radio station. this creative space pushed him to dig deeper and play music on a wider spectrum through the broadcasting platform. furthermore, he's been able to dig and then host some artists on the 5 different continents, but with one aim, again "dig, find, and share", that is his motto. in correlation with his fulfillment via his radio time slot, he's been able to collaborate and play also for different fashion and streetwear brands and venues.

here is a non-exhaustive list of actors that hadj sameer have had the possibility to work with: will bankhead, ron morelli, ben ufo, virgil abloh, kassem mosse, max d, japan blues, livity sound, boiler room, the vinyl factory, rinse fm, nts, the lot radio (for a festival in abidjan), radar radio, balam!, lyl radio, fey festival, atlas electronic festival, maakusma, tresor berlin, concrette, djoon, Requence bar, carhartt, nike, adidas, edwin, converse, etc etc.

hadj sameer, as an inveterate explorer and music archeologist, continues to plan excursions around the world in search of musical artefacts that he would like to share with the crowd, during his several sets. one of them has been lately illustrated in a 6 episodes documentary series produced by the famous french-german arte tv channel, giving a tribute to raï music through his huge collection gathering very emotional testimonies.

"a one-hour voyage between two lands that have always resonated deeply with me: west africa and the french caribbean.

following the invisible threads that connect distant shores — rhythms carried by the ocean, melodies shaped by memory, echoes of places and stories passed from one generation to another."

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