We met Reda Senhaji aka Cheb Runner in The Hague for the Rewire Festival. He was dressed in all black from his hat down to his toes. We found a quiet spot amidst the midday activity of professionals and party goers getting ready for Saturday night festivities. Before sitting down to chat, Cheb pulls out a wooden box and opens it up to reveal some black wraparound motorcycle shades that he throws on as we begin our conversation. Tonight he was on deck to put on an interactive live performance including virtual reality projections by visual artist Salim Bayri<\/a> and freestyle traditional keys and pads. Cheb Runner\u2019s work sits comfortably between heritage and hereafter, combining gnawa and oriental melodies with the dark ambiance of modern club sounds. His 2020 Tagnawit EP <\/em>plays on the smoother side of the spectrum while his follow-up single \u201cAir Maghrib\u201d touches closer to the techno flavor of his club sets. \u201cThe sound is a mix between, let\u2019s say, EDM, Gabber, and traditional music. Most of the time I take traditional rhythmics and then I put some effects on and try to color it; give another vibe to it. Another kind of, how you say, quality\u2026<\/em>\u201d Cheb explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I grew up in Morocco,<\/em>\u201d Cheb continues. \u201cI was with friends, skateboarding, surfing and we were listening to drum and bass, psytrance, techo, hip-hop\u2026because skaters, they can switch between rock, hip hop, electronic, everything. We don’t have these borders, right?<\/em>\u201d Native to Agadir, Morocco, Cheb has little reverence for borders. In fact, the night\u2019s show was called Angry Immigrant, an homage to immigrants making the treacherous and sometimes deadly trip across the Mediterranean from North Africa. Immigrating is something Cheb has some personal experience with. “This show, Angry Immigrant, comes from my experience in Belgium<\/em>“, he begins “I spent 10 years there and during this period I was faced with many problems… personal ones, social issues and integration struggles, papers, you know? And once you solve those problems, then we come to the problems of community.<\/em>” Exasperated, he put his hands in the air. \u201cLet\u2019s talk together. Let’s dance together. Let’s do that together,<\/em>\u201d he offers as a solution. \u201cWhen I play DJ sets it\u2019s uniting.<\/em> Dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing, and sweating and dancing, sweating. That’s it!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n