The pandemic has hit the music scene real hard everywhere. Can you tell us how you all have coped in Morocco?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since beginning of pandemic, there have been absolutely no official events going on, so it\u2019s been tough for everyone on the scene: DJs, venues, promoters, club owners. Only unauthorized parties have taken place, but I\u2019ve stayed away from those, for obvious reasons. The hardest part for me is that we have no visibility, no end date in sight, which makes it impossible to plan. Like many DJs and producers out there, pretty much the only thing I have been doing is making music \u2013 lots of it actually \u2013 but I don\u2019t have a clear strategy of how and when to release it, because of all the uncertainty. Making music helps me forget about the negativity that comes with the pandemic, but I have to say that this period also enabled me to take steps back and reflect about my career. It\u2019s given time for finding myself even more and helped me figure out how I want to evolve as an artist post-pandemic. Before COVID I never had time to meditate. I was stuck in a gigs \/ studio \/ gigs \/ studio \/ gigs type of routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How has your vision evolved with all this introspection?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the last few months, my vision changed a lot. I am better able to define my musical identity and what\u2019s coming out is going to be different but more \u201cme\u201d. I have a better sense of what I am doing and above all why I am doing it. You know, when you start touring and making a bit of money, your ego and bank account gets boosted and it\u2019s easy to lose focus. You may start doing things you are not convinced about because you think it makes commercial sense, but you lose yourself in the process. On my end, I have been making music to express myself, not to seek fame or money. And from now on, I am going to be 100% about my music, and not try to please people in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does that mean in terms of your own production?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, it\u2019s really just a focus on quality. I have changed the way I make music. I am doing more collaborative work, recording with musicians, using more synths and sequencers, bringing together live elements with my electronic sound. I guess before the pandemic, I was trying to deliver quantity and was too often rushing the process. Right now, I have learned a lot about improving my creative process. It has become more fun and organic. More enjoyable than working solo on a software. Computers are algorithms and numbers, but your mind has no limits, and even so-called \u201cmistakes\u201d we do contribute to creativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us more about these African gems re-edits you have done.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During the past year I have also been digging all over the place. In particular rare African jams \u2013 even if I won\u2019t be re-editing them, I will be playing them, you know. During this pandemic, I have been buying music from everywhere: not just African sound but also Indian compilations, underground jazz from New York. Anything. I have been expanding my musical knowledge, because what matters in the end is the feeling of the music, not where it comes from or how it was made. My music is getting way more organic, and that\u2019s what I am feeling right now. Music that\u2019s got soul. I naturally went into this re-edit series (available here<\/a>) starting with maestros such as Salif Keita and Sekouba Bambino as a way to bring them into my own sets and share a different take on them with the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it\u2019s like using electronic music as a platform for more traditional sounds? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly. That\u2019s been true even for me in fact: I discovered African music through electronic music. You know, I got into this electronic thing when I was super young. It was something different, more energetic, it caught me completely. And as you\u2019ll see in my selection with Dennis Ferrer\u2019s Funu<\/a>, that\u2019s how I started hearing African music mixed with electro, which led me to discover the charms and beauty of music coming out of Africa and beyond. I remember the old chill-out compilations for example, where I\u2019d hear beautiful Indian or Afghani music, I\u2019d start researching the artist and discovering whole new genres. So yes, electronic music is a good conduit for other cultures and folklores to be discovered, and I wish producers would get more into it. It benefits these cultures, but it also giving new life to electronic music, by bringing new sounds and inspirations. It\u2019s been true in Morocco with Gnaoua and Berber cultures, which found new exposure but also helped refresh our own electronic sound. Coming back to your earlier question, it\u2019s also what\u2019s motivated me with the African re-edits\u2026 Even though artists like Salif Keita have become super famous, I do think they may not have gotten all the light they deserve. At least not with the younger generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you see Morocco connected with the rest of the Continent?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I really don\u2019t understand how Africans get separated in their minds. Many Moroccans don\u2019t see themselves as Africans, somehow. They often think they are more Arab people than African, because some of our ancestors came from Saudi and that region back in the days. But we\u2019ve been on the Continent for centuries. We are 100% African. I see the same south of the Sahara, where many people don\u2019t recognize the Maghreb or Egypt as fully African. That\u2019s very odd to me. I guess partly it\u2019s color, religion, or languages. There\u2019s also something about cultures which are different, but that\u2019s true across the whole Continent. For me, I have always felt strongly as African, not so much as an Arab. As an artist, I connected with the rest of the Continent through music. Most music I like I discovered through Africans or the diaspora, including house and hip-hop, which started with African Americans. Seeing that artists living in the US knew more about African music than me who lived on the Continent motivated me early on to get to know what\u2019s happening in my own backyard in Senegal, Mali or Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your career fluctuated a lot between events and production. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Way back in the day, I used to organize lots of events, bringing in big house DJs to Morocco. It was good but I had to take time away from that, to really invest in my own musical career, so I could make a name for myself, both as DJ and producer. I completely stopped for many years, but last year, FNX and I were approached by Comptoir Darna, which is a real institution in Marrakech, to curate a regular night called Souktronic. They asked me and FNX<\/a> to take care of the artistic direction to bring a new and different flavor to the scene. It was a really good experience and opportunity to express ourselves, and we hope to continue this adventure once possible again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you see the evolution of the electronic music scene in the Maghreb?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I would say that it\u2019s starting to take over now. There are a lot more events and festivals and the scene is growing bigger. It\u2019s become a real trend. People think it\u2019s cool to listen to electronic music and it\u2019s almost turning mainstream with younger folks. But sadly, I think we lost some the underground values and message behind the music. The real scene \u2013 the underground scene, people who are in there for the love and for the passion \u2013 remains very small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/370b89d7-cee-elassaad-by-yacine-ajnaou-1010x1521.jpg\")