Interview - Yazeed Jarrar
Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing someone who is very close to my heart, a person who has known me my whole life, a person that is as close as a brother to me, one of my favorite cousins and now DJ , Yazeed Jarrar.
Yazeed is one of the biggest fans of EDM music I have ever known, his knowledge of Techno/ Trance and House music ranges back to the inception of this genre and it can only be described as expansive. As of yesterday, Yazeed has finally decided to put this knowledge to perfect use and he released his debut full hour House set. It features tracks such as Dosem's Beach Kisses (Joris Voorn Remix) , Booka Shade's Regenerate and Carlo Lio's Scylla and Breakfast In Bag . The mind-blowing part about it all is that it took him one try to get a quality mix such as this one. One where the transitions are next to seamless and all the songs coalesce together to create a masterful piece of one hour art. Please feel free to check it out below.
Yazeed took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for Computed Beats.
CB: When did you start listening to House / Trance / Techno ? Why?
YJ: It all began in 2001 when one of my close friends introduced me to Tiesto in Jordan. The year he released his first solo album In My Memory. I really enjoyed what I heard and began listening to that type of music ever since. I also had a chance to watch Tiesto live in concert when he came to Jordan, Petra to be specific, it was unreal.
CB: Who was/is your favorite artists to watch live?
YJ: Dubfire is easily one of my favorite artists to watch live. He was born in DC, which means he plays around here a lot. His shows are amazing. I'd say I've watched him at least 4 or 5 times live. I had a blast at every single one of them.
CB: Who are your inspirations? Who do you listen to the most?
YJ: Over 14 years, you tend to have multiple favorites, so it is really hard to pick. But if I had to go with someone or a group whose style I try to emulate or artists that I listen to regularly, it would definitely have to be Dubfire , Richie Hawtin and Carlo Lio.
CB: How long have you been mixing music?
YJ: I actually haven't been mixing for that long, it has only been 2 months.
CB: 2 months? That's crazy man.You have been listening to this type of music for 14 years now, what finally made you want to make your first set?
YJ: Well, my brother actually bought this DJ set and he decided that he does not want it anymore, and I bought it off of him. I started playing around with it and realized how much I love it and how good I can become at it. I mixed around for 2 months after that and saw myself being able to go on for hours and the music sounded good to me, so I recorded an hour long set that I had and put in on SoundCloud.
CB: Would you ever consider doing this full-time or is this just a hobby? What's the end goal?
YJ: Definitely just a hobby. It is something really fun that I enjoy doing. The end goal, I'm not sure, maybe some private parties, a couple of nights DJing in DC maybe but never full time. I really only want to give back to all the times I've really enjoyed a DJ playing his music, hopefully I can make other people listening to my music feel the same way.
CB: We hear a lot of people nowadays criticize EDM for being too repetitive, what do you have to say to those people?
YJ: Those people obviously are just haters and do not appreciate this kind of music for what it really is. When you listen deeply you can definitely tell the difference in each song you listen to. The melodies, the drops, everything about it can be really exciting and enjoyable. You just need to give it a chance.
CB: We also hear a lot of people criticize EDM DJ's for not having real talent at concerts and all they have to do is hit 'Play' and the music is played for them, what do you have to say to those people?
YJ: Who are these people man? I sure hope you do not spend so much time around people like that. My answer to that is there is so much talent involved DJing live from reading the crowd and playing the right music to making sure your music transitions correctly. It definitely requires a lot of talent if you go watch the right DJ, DJ's who just press play and let the music play for them aren't really performers and are not worth watching for me either, you have to find the right people to watch.
CB: Last words?
YJ: Thank you so much for doing this. I am definitely going to keep mixing music, I plan on keeping the sets coming and I know for a fact that I am going to get better because I am practicing almost everyday. This is a journey of me doing something that I really like, I wish I would have done it sooner.
I plan on featuring multiple up-and-coming artists on this blog so this is just the beginning. Please feel free to check Yazeed out on his SoundCloud page, and as always stay tuned for more awesome music!
Yazeed is one of the biggest fans of EDM music I have ever known, his knowledge of Techno/ Trance and House music ranges back to the inception of this genre and it can only be described as expansive. As of yesterday, Yazeed has finally decided to put this knowledge to perfect use and he released his debut full hour House set. It features tracks such as Dosem's Beach Kisses (Joris Voorn Remix) , Booka Shade's Regenerate and Carlo Lio's Scylla and Breakfast In Bag . The mind-blowing part about it all is that it took him one try to get a quality mix such as this one. One where the transitions are next to seamless and all the songs coalesce together to create a masterful piece of one hour art. Please feel free to check it out below.
Yazeed took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for Computed Beats.
CB: When did you start listening to House / Trance / Techno ? Why?
YJ: It all began in 2001 when one of my close friends introduced me to Tiesto in Jordan. The year he released his first solo album In My Memory. I really enjoyed what I heard and began listening to that type of music ever since. I also had a chance to watch Tiesto live in concert when he came to Jordan, Petra to be specific, it was unreal.
CB: Who was/is your favorite artists to watch live?
YJ: Dubfire is easily one of my favorite artists to watch live. He was born in DC, which means he plays around here a lot. His shows are amazing. I'd say I've watched him at least 4 or 5 times live. I had a blast at every single one of them.
CB: Who are your inspirations? Who do you listen to the most?
YJ: Over 14 years, you tend to have multiple favorites, so it is really hard to pick. But if I had to go with someone or a group whose style I try to emulate or artists that I listen to regularly, it would definitely have to be Dubfire , Richie Hawtin and Carlo Lio.
CB: How long have you been mixing music?
YJ: I actually haven't been mixing for that long, it has only been 2 months.
CB: 2 months? That's crazy man.You have been listening to this type of music for 14 years now, what finally made you want to make your first set?
YJ: Well, my brother actually bought this DJ set and he decided that he does not want it anymore, and I bought it off of him. I started playing around with it and realized how much I love it and how good I can become at it. I mixed around for 2 months after that and saw myself being able to go on for hours and the music sounded good to me, so I recorded an hour long set that I had and put in on SoundCloud.
CB: Would you ever consider doing this full-time or is this just a hobby? What's the end goal?
YJ: Definitely just a hobby. It is something really fun that I enjoy doing. The end goal, I'm not sure, maybe some private parties, a couple of nights DJing in DC maybe but never full time. I really only want to give back to all the times I've really enjoyed a DJ playing his music, hopefully I can make other people listening to my music feel the same way.
CB: We hear a lot of people nowadays criticize EDM for being too repetitive, what do you have to say to those people?
YJ: Those people obviously are just haters and do not appreciate this kind of music for what it really is. When you listen deeply you can definitely tell the difference in each song you listen to. The melodies, the drops, everything about it can be really exciting and enjoyable. You just need to give it a chance.
CB: We also hear a lot of people criticize EDM DJ's for not having real talent at concerts and all they have to do is hit 'Play' and the music is played for them, what do you have to say to those people?
YJ: Who are these people man? I sure hope you do not spend so much time around people like that. My answer to that is there is so much talent involved DJing live from reading the crowd and playing the right music to making sure your music transitions correctly. It definitely requires a lot of talent if you go watch the right DJ, DJ's who just press play and let the music play for them aren't really performers and are not worth watching for me either, you have to find the right people to watch.
CB: Last words?
YJ: Thank you so much for doing this. I am definitely going to keep mixing music, I plan on keeping the sets coming and I know for a fact that I am going to get better because I am practicing almost everyday. This is a journey of me doing something that I really like, I wish I would have done it sooner.
I plan on featuring multiple up-and-coming artists on this blog so this is just the beginning. Please feel free to check Yazeed out on his SoundCloud page, and as always stay tuned for more awesome music!
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