Shadi Megallaa is a bit of a mystery. Despite having built up a strong reputation in Europe for his inventive beats, he remains virtually unknown in the UAE, where he has lived for the majority of his life. His new album Trinity released recently on the web will likely change that, though. The Egyptian-born electronic musician sits down for a chat about his inspirations and the hard work of making good music.
I was born in Cairo and lived here until 1997. I went to the University of Kansas for three and a half years. I finished with a design management degree - my father owns an architectural company here and I'm working with him at the moment. It's a little bit of business, a little bit of design. I started to make music six or seven years ago and I've been DJing for 13 years.
I grew up in the 1980s. There was such great music then. I just got some turntables and a mixer and started to play. Then I got to the point where I wasn't interested in just playing music any more. I would be paying attention and wondering: "How did they do that?" I invested in a laptop and got different gear, including a keyboard, and taught myself the process. In the beginning you think that everything you do is good, but it's really not. You're just very excited to release a record. I got in touch with a bunch of people who had record labels. A track called The Spot was the one that got me my first release [with] a label called Tic Tac Toe based in Denmark.
Not too many people here are making experimental music or any other kind of music. It's really hard to get noticed here. It's frustrating in Abu Dhabi- even in Dubai, where a lot of people know me. I can't find a place here.
I've just done an album, which took a year and a few months to make. I became a hermit to make it. I'd go out and I'd hear a lot of techno but then a lot of it started to sound too similar to me. It was new at first, but then people got bored with bleepy, clicky electronic music. House music is coming back now, which is funny because it's been here the whole time. There is just one techno track on my album. Everything else is experimental. I took a lot of influences - hip-hop, dub, reggae, jazz - and basically fell in love with music all over again.
It's called Trinity, it is more ambient and there's a concept behind it. I tried to have a concept before I made the music. Every track has just three major elements. I wanted to limit the music. When you have such a broad palette of colours it gets overwhelming sometimes, so I decided I was just going to work with three things and see what happens.
Trinity will be released on @email:www.igloo-rec.com.ar
swolff@thenational.ae