Hisham Samawi - Live At Sortedout - Aug 2004

Biography of Hisham Samawi

Born in Tripoli, Libya and raised in Switzerland, Hisham Samawi always had a variety of musical influences in his life. This can be seen in the diversity of the music he blends together: a whirlwind mixture oftech-house, house, electro, breaks, banging drum beats and big basslines. 'I don't really know what to call my sound. I just play records that move me and let others worry about what it is called. In my opinion, a good DJ makes everyone leave the club thinking he played adifferent sound. A good DJ makes a techno fan think he heard techno that night and a house head think he heard house.'
Hisham is one third of the production group, Dirty Gringos, along with Brendan Benke and Dennis Rodgers (112 Crew). He is part of the new waveof talent rising up from New York. He has headlined large capacityvenues in the USA and around the world, sharing the bill with house legends and rising talent alike. As he tours around the country and internationally, his following is growing steadily. From a promoter in Miami, FL: 'Let me start by saying how proud we are for having hosted atalent of the dimension of Hisham Samawi... Hisham played last Saturday what I feel is the future of electronic music... the display of chunky-tech, with A-MA-ZING basslines, electro and the right amount of breakswas simply phenomenal... If his style is something we admire, Hisham's track selection was superb... cutting edge, pushing boundaries for newsounds that cross many different genres and blend to perfection. His mixing skills are in the same note... it has to be ranked among my favorite top 10 live sets ever.'
With several tracks played and charted by many of the scene's most respected DJs, the industry is taking notice of Hisham's production talent. In 2003, his remix of the classic track 'Atlas - Compass Error'on Plastica Red/R.I.P received rave reviews. It was called 'earth-shattering,' a 'can't miss release' by Big Shot Magazine, and DJ Hyper labelled it a 'stunning breakbeat mix' in his review for iDJ. Hisham also produces as Dirty Gringos (Hisham Samawi, Brendan Benke, DennisRodgers). Their debut track, 'Cowbell', was in the June issue of Urb Magazine as one of the top 3 tracks of WMC 2003, spreading to charts at an impressive pace. His productions have received huge support from top DJ talent including Sasha & Digweed, Lee Burridge, Danny Howells, Sander Kleinenberg, and James Zabiela. An original track, 'Kakon', (Inversus),featuring a remix from Dirty Gringos, will be released this Spring.
Between the launch of Native Theory Records, his upcoming releases, and his increasingly packed touring schedule, 2004 promises to be a breakout year for Hisham.