DJ Duo Bedouin Sent Stereo on a melodic journey through the desert on Saturday February 10th. Delivering a seamless mix of Middle-Eastern inspired melodies and soothing deep house tracks, the audience was left mesmerized by the duo’s vibe of diverse electronic ear candy until the last note of their set.

Beloved by their Montreal fans, Bedouin stayed true to their brand and laid out rolling streams of melodic, ethereal beats to a crowd finely tuned to the duo’s heavenly synths and deep bass lines. Transition after transition between tracks brought a myriad of worldly musical elements which kept the audience truly captivated from open to close.

Rami Abousabe and Tamer Malki, the DJ/Producer partnership which make up Bedouin, fuse their Western upbringing, Middle-Eastern heritage, and experience as global travelers to create a unique sound not like many others. Throughout the evening, listeners experienced sounds from a number of non-western traditional instruments. Some recognizable sounds came from instruments such as the oud (11 stringed middle eastern lute), the ney (Persian flute), or the doumbek (middle eastern goblet drum).

The audience had the pleasure of witnessing more uncommon melodic appearances from the duduk, the accordion, and many groups of diverse world instruments. The way Bedouin masterfully mixed and implemented microtonality through non-western instruments and textures kept us grooving from track to track. Stereo’s crowd had a weakness for Bedouin’s diverse influences, and the duo couldn’t help but deliver.

Bedouin’s musical identity, however, extends beyond this range of dreamy Oriental inspired melodies. At points during their set, Bedouin threw down remixes of 80s bangers like “Bad” by Michael Jackson, taking the audience by surprise and bringing everyone’s feet to the dancefloor. By dipping into the past and tying it to the present, Bedouin mixed and matched the old and new, threw in some groovy samples, and extended their already diverse genre to a whole new level.

The pair has come a long way since their appearance on Audiofly’s Supernature Label and works on Sprinkler Records. If their full first summer spent in Ibiza hosting their weekly residency at Heart is any indication, Bedouin has truly come into their own as globally established masters of mixing.

Montrealers are no stranger to Bedouin’s tracks released under All Day I Dream this past July, as well as their past shows at AIM and Stereo. Over the last few years, Montrealers have formed a growing, tight-knit following for the Brooklyn-based duo; Bedouin’s story told through their impeccably diverse and pristinely mixed sets connects deeply to the diversity and passion of our own community here in Montreal.

As the last track of the night was played at Stereo, an incredible number of listeners were still riding the wave of Bedouin’s Desert journey through past and present, East and West.

Article by Hunter