Student DJ: Gasser El Safty Vs Marwan Akl

What’s the biggest lesson you learned at boot camp?

Gasser: Getting enough sleep! We weren’t getting enough sleep for the first two days and then came time for the assessment at the end everyone was freaking out and panicking. I just packed my shit and went back to bed, got a good seven hours of sleep and then the assessment was a lot better than I thought!

Marwan: Never be in a room with 20 DJs.  It was a lot of bass! That was the huge problem; you’d have headphones on but you can still hear music from the outside, it was really hard!

How does the partying culture influence your musical approach?

Gasser: If I didn’t participate in the partying culture I probably would’ve never gotten into electronic music to begin with. I played in bands, I played rock and metal music as I was growing up and it was only when I started going to these events and seeing DJs and how they interact with the crowd and how they can influence how the crowd dances or how they feel throughout the night… That’s what really got me into electronic music.

Marwan: When I’m mixing music I can imagine the crowd in front of me and imagine how would the people react to this type of music. It also influences my productions; I ask myself ‘Is this going to actually make the people relate to the same experience they always get when they’re clubbing?’ The culture all about love, peace and just having fun all the time. So I try an imagine that when I’m making music.

When you’re creating your sets, do you think about what the crowd wants to hear or do you play a sound that’s true to yourself?

Gasser: I think as a DJ, it’s like you’re nominated by the crowd. Essentially what you are is a person who has good taste in music. Everything that comes after that, technically in terms of your mixing and your skill, is something that you acquire along the way but essentially you just know how to pick good music. Where that comes from is probably also influenced by where you go to listen to music, so in the back of your mind you’re always thinking, this is going to sound great at this venue or that part. Or, for example, I think I’ve never heard anything like this before, maybe they won’t like it.

Marwan: It’s not what the crowd wants to hear, it’s more like, what I can choose from my music that would please the crowd? I would never, for example, place a track that I don’t like just to please the crowd – I think hard about finding things in my collection that is also relatable for the average partyer.  

What do you think about the DJs that are just crowd pleasers?

Gasser: I don’t know what satisfaction they get out of what they’re doing. To me, it’s completely unfulfilling to play something that I don’t like, I wouldn’t even know what to do! Like I would stand up there on stage and press some buttons?

Marwan: It kind of turns into a proper desk job. You’re there pressing buttons to please a crowd. There’s no fun in that.  

What’s the worst thing about your opponent?

Gasser: I think the worst thing about Marwan is the fact that I haven’t heard much of his music so I don’t really know what to expect!

Marwan: I get really scared when I see Gasser around his gadgets. I don’t know he just came up with a lot of stuff at the boot camp! He was holding a guitar and like a controller on the side and he’s standing on a table with 15 things in front of him and you’re like what the hell man!?

What’s your biggest pet peeve about the DJing scene?

Gasser:  When they’re all the same. Like the period when Deep House was really big it - drove me insane! If I’m out every weekend, it’s the same songs on repeat, the set doesn’t progress from Deep House to anything and it’s the same 20 or 30 songs being played everywhere.

Marwan: I agree with Gasser; when something becomes a trend and then you go everywhere and you hear it. These days it’s Nu Disco and G-House.

When you go out can you have fun or do you always end up analysing the music and the DJ’s skills?

Gasser: I don’t think I can switch it off. I’ve been a musician since I was 14. I analyse every single sound that I hear, not just music. It’s just that matter of letting go.

Marwan: It becomes a habit, you can’t really stop it like he said. Once you know what’s going on then you can’t really stop your ears from judging everything that you listen to. But I still try to forget about it sometimes and have some fun.

DJing: a science or an art?

Gasser: You can say a lot of things are science when it comes to music; instead of referencing a note, you can reference it by its frequency, for instance. It’s interesting to get into the science of it but essentially, in your mind when you’re creating, it doesn’t feel like its science. it feels like you’re being inspired to do something and I don’t think you can explain inspiration in scientific terms.

Marwan: It’s a different kind of art. There are people who are artists and they produce the music but DJs are still artists because they take the music and blend it in a sort of way that no one else can do it. For example, even if Gasser and I could create completely different sets, even if you gave us the exact same tracks. That’s the art in it.

Time for word association! Turntable…

Gasser: Fun.

Marwan: Scratch.

Vinyl…

Gasser: Vintage.

Marwan: Scratch. 

Scratch…

Marwan: Crossfader!

Dance floor…

Gasser: Euphoria.

Lemonade…

Gasser: Heartburn!

Come on Marwan, join in…

Marwan: I’m really slow…

Catch Marwan Akl and Gasser El Safty in action on Thursday 20th Novembe at Fairmont Nile City's Sky Pool starting from 10pm.