When Minimal Takes Over: Spotlight on DJ Sha and His Contribution to Tunisia’s Evolving Electronic Scene

Goodbye to champagne and fame: Tunisia’s clubbing scene has come a long way from its beginnings. The country's scene has always been up to date with electronic music since the trance hype with Tiesto and Armin van Buren, and can be considered a pioneer in the Middle East and North Africa. Promoters like Calypso and Pacha Club got a taste of booking headliners in the early 2000s, curating glitzy line-ups with big international names from the very start. What could have been the opening of a true techno tale, was sadly mostly about making easy money and only accessible to the bourgeoisie. “No regular tickets, extremely expensive entrance prices, no dance floor...just people sitting there and showing off that don’t even know the DJ's name” remembers Chakroun, also known under his DJ pseudonym ‘Sha’. But change has been coming over the past years and the scene is transforming. Thanks to a number of hard working promoters as well as collectives, club culture has been redefined, moving more towards more down to earth events with good dance floors and a community that is more about the music and less about the glam life.

Tunisia's scene is growing fast. These days you can find multiple events starring famed DJs from all over the world playing on the same day. Some credit Ephemere Festival, which first took place in 2014, as a contributor to the growing scene: “I think one of the best things that happened to the Tunisian electronic scene was Ephemere Festival. Local and international bookings were on point and the people behind it really cared about the music” says Sha. The rise of the electronic music scene also has roots in Djerba. Located in the Gulf of Gabès, the island is not only known for its beaches and desert villages but also has the best local DJs flying in to play there every week. But the heart of Tunisia’s electronic music scene still lies in its dynamic capital. Clubbers in Tunis have the beautiful agony of choice when the weekend arrives: the Threesome Sousse, 1821 Burning Room Sousse or Wax Bar are just a few of the many options. From Chakroun’s point of view, Wax Bar is the real game-changer when it comes to shaping club culture in Tunisia and “probably the only place where I enjoy playing and making parties in Tunis”. The venue is driven by strong art direction that not only focuses on electronic music but combines it with live bands and cultural events. Other actors that contribute to the pulsing electronic music scene, according to Chakroun, are the collective Downtown Vibes, which he describes as the best active collective, and the record label Warok Music. Though Downtown Vibes managed to gather a strong community around house and disco music, credit is also to be given to independent artists like Hearthug, Ahmed Mecnun and others, who are working hard on producing quality music that is now being played at festivals around the world.

Through all the transformation that is going on, there was still one thing that remained unfulfilled for Sha - his passion for minimal house music. This finally led to him start his own project in 2016. “We wanted to expand our passion for minimal house in order create a community that was nonexistent at that time. People thought minimal was just for after parties back then” he explains. What started as an unforgettable party with only 40 people on his terrace, would later turn into “Terrasse Dub”, a party established by Sha and his friends Hamadi, Boulares, Souhaila and Rotmann, that now takes place at a different location every time. Just one year after they started their movement, it was time to go big: “We rented a big ass sound system, booked all the local DJs that we like and called VJLY, who did an incredible mapping on the house behind the DJ booth. 250 people came that night and it was one of the best parties I have ever had in Tunisia”. After the strong opening, the event format easily won the hearts of night birds all over the country. In cooperation with Wax Bar in Tunis, parties with international DJs such as Zendid, Cecilio, Vincentlulian or Ferro have been regularly happening. Chakroun even claims that his group as well as his colleagues from Wax Lab are the first ones who believed in minimal music and started to promote it in Tunisia before it was trendy. 

"We never thought Terrasse Dub would get that big at the beginning" the DJ reflects. "It was just a private rooftop party where we could play and enjoy the music we like that was missing in the clubs and bars of Tunis". So after they went big in their third edition, things actually got challenging for the collective of friends as they were launched into a professional environment. Even though the founders of the event series agreed on a shared main idea, their tastes and visions as well as their personalities were different, leading to a lot of lost time and energy debating the tiniest details, Sha shares with us. Another challenge for the young team was the booking: "As three out of four members involved are DJs, we also evolved and the gap between our style got bigger. So a huge challenge was the bookings; everyone has his favourite DJs and wanted to book them. For the crowd it was a good thing, they had the opportunity to hear all kinds of minimal house, but with the concept it was like walking in all directions without a precise vision" he reflects. But after their workflow was established, they managed to open the doors to a new night life scene in Tunis.

Sha's love for minimal music is not only restricted to his work for “Terrasse Dub”, as he has also been pursuing his own career as a DJ since 2014. Though he was interested in music since his teenage years, it wasn’t until he went to Germany and started hanging out with the German techno collective Format, that he started playing seriously. “They had a nice set up for after parties but were too dead from the main party to mix, so I was digging the whole month and preparing my precious USB stick, just for that moment when I was ready to plug in and try some new mixing ideas” he recalls of his first steps in the business. Encouraged by the support of his German techno lovers, he was quickly motivated to dig even more. Hooked by this experience, Sha continued pursuing his musical interest back in Tunisia. There he met Ali Boulares, who was known for his impressive vinyl collection. “All the tracks I couldn’t find in digital, he had them on vinyl. It was love at first sight, musically spoken. He taught me how to play on vinyl and with another friend of ours, Hamadi, we started playing at private parties and improved our skills” he remembers.

A lot has happened since those days and by now Sha can not only proudly look back on the founding of Terrasse Dub, but also achieved playing with the same DJs that introduced him to minimal music like like Arapu, Priku or Mihigh - a real honour for the minimal enthusiast. But that’s not where he wants to settle: “With all the contacts I have now, I am considering opening a label and promoting Tunisian artists that produce minimal music. It’s just a matter of time and I’m not in a hurry. My ultimate goal is to do showcases in other countries to represent Tunis in the international scene.”

Follow Sha on Soundcloud and Instagram.