Stockholm-based DJ Ninort El-Khoury grew up in Gothenburg to a Lebanese father. His experience is like that of many children of first-generation immigrant families, split between identities, not quite fitting in either way. That experience is part of what brought El-Khoury back to Beirut in October this year, where he produced a mix for the local Radio Beirut, here shared via AQNB.
Tracks by Joanna Brouk, Firaasbeats and artist and producer Kareem Lotfy are included in the mix, which is described by the Glum Trigger label c0-founder (with ishi vu and Niklas) as capturing the feeling and energy of driving through the city. The selection — that has everything from meditation music and Swedish dancehall to experimental electronica and hip hop — captures a sense of wistful movement and longing that only a person whose heart is split across geographies can really understand. El-Khoury opted to go without his immediate family to Beirut for the second time this year, getting to know a place that might have been his birthplace better on his own terms. “We just go from one uncle’s house to another uncle’s house and drink coffee and eat,” he says about his formative experiences of Beirut and Zahle village, where his dad is from, “That’s nice but for a restless person like me, I got bored. I want to go out with my cousins and meet people, or just look and feel the energy from my other home.”**
TRACK LISTING:
1. Linkwood, ‘Outside In [expressions]’
2. Joanna Brouk, ‘The Creative’
3. Muslimgauze, ‘Jawani Zindabad’
4. Noctilucents, ‘Run With Me’
5. Shakarchi & Stranéus, ‘Wheel Of Fortune (Unreleased)’
6. Firaasbeats, ‘Zen Mod’
7. ishi vu, ‘U (Unreleased)’
8. Sch, ‘Je La Connais’
9. Khotin, ‘Dawn Flowers’
10. Cos/mes, ‘Dfg (Featuring Dr. Nishimura)’
11. Kareem Lotfy, ‘Triplego Eau Frais Mallorca Version’
12. Orlando, ‘The Tide That Moves Me’
13. Mo x Aden x Asme Jet Lyriks
14. Mishon, ‘Rock My Chain (Instrumental)’
15. E 40 Ft. T I. And Chris Brown, ‘Episode Instrumental’
16. Lanark Artefax, ‘Touch Absence (Intimidating Stillness Mix)’
17. Occult Orientated Crime, ‘Japanese Trains’
18. Grxgvr, ‘Skinny2-the-bone’
ishi vu’s P—O—D EP is out via Stockholm’s Glum Trigger label in November.
