Once one of Lebanon’s most high profile DJs, Fady made the move to Amsterdam to further his DJ and production career. But with a monthly residency in Beirut, and a double CD, with one disc dedicated to the Paris of the Middle East and the other to the ‘Dam, it’s clear that his native country is firmly in his thoughts.

You’ve named one CD Amsterdam, and the other Beirut - what’s the biggest difference between the two?
Well I consider my music as the common factor between the two - I am inspired by these two beautiful ladies. They are totally and unexplainably different, and I like that.

How did you record the mix?
I mixed it live at my studio in Amsterdam, using two CDJs, and then edited it and mastered it using Live Ableton 8 and some high-end plugins. But I wanted to keep the feeling that it is one hundred per cent live.

How did you decide what tracks to put on there? And are there any exclusives?

I wanted to create a story line, as I do when I play live. I wanted to describe how I see these two influencial and cultural cities: Amsterdam with its lush, groovy and mad hypnotic face, Beirut with its underground feel, as twisted and darkly beautiful as its cobwebbed streets. But to be honest, I just played the first tune, and that one yielded to the flow; I might have been inspired by J.S.Bach who once said “There’s nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the
instrument plays itself”.

What made you release a physical CD in the current climate?

Although the world had changed, and every music lover is online, there is still a special feeling to have the album that you dig, physically, you can touch it, hold it, place it proudly on your library shelf, show it to your best friends, and play it everywhere. Plus, you might have it as a collectible item one day. That intimate thing definitely can’t be compared to having data on a file somewhere on your desktop. But that’s an age-old argument, analog vs digital. I think, finally, everyone has their own way of listening to music, whether it be a physical item, or a digital one. The content is always going to be the most important thing to look for, but an album, is not only about the music content, it is about the artwork, sometimes the cover, and the message behind it.

You have one of your songs on there called ‘A Girl With a Cello on a Bike.’ Is that a true story?

It’s not a true story, but after seeing a black and white photo of a girl on a bike with a cello on her back on a blog, I had the inspiration and idea to start a melodic track, with different chord progressions, and different moods. And it is a story about a girl who is rushing into the conservatoire, finding her way through the busy streets of Amsterdam, and thinking about a love lost somewhere between the note sheets and the bed sheets!

You old romantic. Have you put any Middle Eastern producers on the Beirut CD, apart from yourself?

There’s a track entitled ‘Champagne’ and it is by two upcoming and talented Lebanese producers, Shant and Diamond Setter, Diamond Setter is the
Basement Beirut’s resident DJ. It was released on my label Goosebumps Records, and it had a lot of support from big names in the scene. And also Champagne itself has a big presence and role in our Beirut nightlife, you can hear that in the break of Shant and Diamond Setter’s track.

Fady Ferraye, The Double Effect is out now on Daxar.