Fady Ferraye has not had a normal upbringing for an artist. Born in Beirut, he began collecting vinyl at the age of 10, with the Lebanese civil war as a backdrop, mastering his skills back in the 80s in one of the city's bomb shelters. Back then, Beirut was similar to Berlin pre-1990; dark, divided, and insecure. It was no easy start for a musician's career that would one day take him across the world for high-profile gigs. Fady has truly delivered the message that the Middle East is not only a place of war, but a place of musical expression and a hotbed of creativity. After years of spinning in the vibrant but at times troubled Middle East (including six long years playing a weekly residency at Beirut's B018 and two in The Basement), Fady felt the time was right to take the plunge to move to a European dance music epicentre, Amsterdam, away from the domestic troubles in his native country. The switch to Amsterdam saw his international DJ career really start. He quickly became resident at Club NL (four years and still going strong), launched his own Saturday night Yield event alongside DJ Maron as well as Hurly Burly on a Thursday with Dutch celeb Johnny De Mol.

Fady's consistency behind the decks has led to invites to play internationally in as far-flung places such as Dubai, and amazingly he still manages to hold down a regular slot at the Basement in Beirut, flying to the Middle East on a regular basis. Glamorous nights have included performing at an afterhours party for P Diddy and headlining Fashion TV's Black Diamond Boat, while DJ bookings over the years have seen him perform alongside Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Deep Dish, Sander Kleinenberg, Above & Beyond, Judge Jules, Dave Seaman, Marco V and many more. Productions are crucial for the progress of any DJ's career and this hard-working studio master has signed records to labels all around the world including Audio Therapy (UK), Presslab (Italy), Faith (Belgium), Often Gruven (Canada), Frisky, Proton Particles (US), Pesto and Jetlag (Ger), Outside The Box and The Sessions (NL). Support has come from the cream of the world's DJ elite including Hernan Cattaneo, Sharam (Deep Dish), Sasha, John Digweed, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, James Zabiela, Steve Lawler, Laurent Garnier and many more. Fady also runs his own Goosebumps label to release his own music and to push any unsigned dancefloor gems he finds on his travels. The label is managed by UK-based Critical Rhythm.

With internet radio and podcasting expanding, Fady also crucially finds time to host two popular radio shows, Frisky Radio (No. 1 internet radio) and NRJ (No.1 French FM radio, also airing in the Middle East). If you have ever had the pleasure of witnessing Fady in action, his diverse background and unique upbringing can be heard in any of the clubs or festivals where he plays - it's a real mix of all that's good about electronic music. In fact, it could be said that Fady is a real dancefloor chef; he has a sound recipe of his own, with quality house and techno as ingredients. His long sets mean he can take great pride in serving appetizers, the main dish and the dessert. This is his musical philosophy, how he believes a great party should be approached, and it's all encapsulated for you on his new double cd compilation entitled "The Double Effect". For bookings : bookingsfadyferraye@gmail.com

www.myspace.com/fadyferraye

http://www.fadyferraye.com/

Electronic music is a secret and complex art: It lives on chaos and paradoxes, clashed histories and dark sides. So is Nhar’s musical algorithm. Coming from the flourishing southern techno scene, the artist has developed a personal universe on the fringes of techno and minimal house on labels such as Modélisme, Mobilee, Plak or Correspondant. This sphere of activities takes us back to several legacies including, first of all, the original scene, which served as a big bang to electronic music in France. Indeed, Nhar awakens to electronic thanks to the southern rave scene, which since the early nineties is one hub of a kind in Europe owing to its leading events (Boréalis, Dragon Bal) and hyperactive collectives. Drummer in a metal band until he was seventeen, the artist then plunged into that breeding ground of activists and artists: the right time to combine the best tendencies from a booming European scene at that time. Soon he composed his first tracks. His first projects are released with 22 Crew; the duet formed with Kevin Scherschel, esteemed artist whose latest LP 22:22 has been released on Edelweiss/Module. An artistic potential emphasized with two EPs: The first one released on Modélisme, Sébastien Bromberger’s exemplary record label, the second one is a partnership with, Parisian figurehead DJ, Jennifer Cardini on Dirt Crew. Precisely at that time, the southern scene got its second wind owing to BarLive relentless activity, which has marked the French electronic scene until its permanent closure in early 2009. The after party venue in Montpellier whose fame has spread far and wide, offers him a regular residency. For three years, it allowed Nhar to hone his musical vision: “ BarLive surrounding brought about some change in my mixing style. There, I realized thanks to club music, I was able to convey more than rhythm, a real emotion”. The period coincides with the first releases under his solo alias, on best European labels: Mobilee, Plak, Meerestief, Bambù, Time Has Changed, Mina, Kina, Soniculture, WIR or Factor City. A collaboration with Cebb/Sébastien Thibaud an a remix of his track Nothingness by Falko Brocksieper, minimal techno leading light, are worth noting. At the same time, the artist remixes British pioneers Silicone Soul on Soma, Pablo Bolivar and Citizen Kain on Regular or Billy Dalessandro on Soniculture. In 2006, Hexoflip on Mobilee (Anja Schneider’s label) seals Nhar’ style: a deep and hypnotic techno emphasized with a spectral voice. It conveys an original flavour to the tracks, a kind of “melancholy euphoria” retaining a vivid but ghostly hint of humanity. Until then, it has become the producer’s trademark: a vocal chaudfroid establishing, on the artist instructions, a connection with his early dark-sounding musical background. So new influences have been added to electronic parameters such as those heard on Close Up, a groovy and at the same time almost neo-romantic track or Thelema, signed on Correspondant Jennifer Cardini’s new label: “instead of composing countless tracks of tech house and cold minimal, I’d rather turn towards more authentic trends”. Like Dante, mentioned on the eponymous track, Nhar explores, with a deep voice against a background of enveloping electronic music, untapped resources of human emotions.

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