Jade & Diamond Setter
Location: Beirut, LEB
Affiliations: The Basement
Website: myspace.com/jadeyourself
Biography
Jade:
Jade is the main man and THE DJ from The Basement in Beirut, one of the most important, if not the main beacon for electronic music in Lebanon. His star is rising fast with a number of productions already under the belt and DJ gigs around Europe and the Middle East taking him away from home almost every weekend.
A rocker since high school, he moved to Montreal in 1999 where he experienced his first techno parties and found himself dragged into the world of electronic sounds. In 2002, he returned home to record his first album as a major act with his band Blend (www.blendband.net), the first Rock band in the Middle East signed to a major label (EMI).
A year later Jade was immersed in DJing, and not long after that, he gathered 400 people in unique locations where he organized underground parties (spoon events). He started distributing his mixes on CD, a habit that’s continued to date, though these days you’re more likely to get online links.
Fast forward to June 2005 and his club The Basement started to gain a huge reputation for its particular style and its crazy atmosphere. For the first time in Beirut, the European Electro / Minimal & Tech-House sound was offered to a wider audience with Jennifer Cardini, Abe Duque, Chloe, M.A.N.D.Y, D’Julz and many others playing there regularly.
Jade was instrumental in getting support from The French Cultural Center & The Goethe Institute and The Basement continues to host workshops with international artists regularly in order to push local talent and is also home to many emerging local artists & bands. Jade also organizes charity events regularly, giving The Basement a different imagine and established it as a club with a humane touch as well as a cultural vision.
The war in 2006 couldn’t stop this man! He continued organizing fundraisers in Lebanon (www.minimalresistance.org) and around the world (www.tobeirut.org) in coordination with The Lebanese Red Cross and with the help and support of P-Toile (Clique Bookings, Berlin), with many Famous DJs and live acts such as DJ Hell, Craig Richards, M.A.N.D.Y., Stewart Walker, Patrick Chardronnet, Dirt Crew, Kiki, Fafa Monteco, Jef K, Jennifer Cardini, Chloe, Yvan Smagghe, Ewan Pearson and many more offering their participation for free.
When things cooled down, Jade started his weekly radio show ‘Sounds from the Basement’ on Beirut radio station Mix FM, which later moved to NRJ in 2008 and continue to broadcast every Saturday at 11pm. Jade now maintains monthly residencies for Likwid Productions in Bahrain and Fantasize Music in Dubai as well as his weekly night ‘Electro Is Dead’ at his beloved Basement. He is also continuing to make great strides with production partner and fellow Basement DJ Diamond Setter with the pair getting every track they’ve released being picked up by a respected underground electronic label.
Diamond Setter:
Kevork Keshishian, aka Diamond Setter, has become in the last few years a household name in Beirut’s thriving dance scene. His DJ sets have established him in record time as one of the city’s top spinners, one that is admired by his peers and club-goers alike.
Kevork’s stage-name, Diamond Setter, is a reference to his previous occupation, as he used to spend long, extensive hours setting diamonds in the workshop every day. He decided to let go of this alternate occupation in 2008, and devote all of his time to music and music-making. Along with fellow DJ and producer Jade, he built a home studio in a little room in Beirut, where he now spends most of his days listening, composing and remixing.
Following several stints in various pubs and bars in Beirut, Diamond Setter became a resident DJ at the renowned club The Basement; there, he played alongside several international DJ's and musicians, including Tigerskin, Scratch Massive, P-Toile, Fafa Monteco, Jennifer Cardini, Remote, Till Von Sein, Aspro, Monolake, Cosmo Vitelli, Reynold, Thomas Brinkmann, Dj Fex, M.A.N.D.Y., Fairmont and many others… It is also at the Basement that Diamond Setter held his first successful residency, ELECTRO IS DEAD, with Jade.
In parallel to his Dj’ing activities, Diamond Setter holds an impressive track record in the field of production. His partnership with Jade yielded a remix for Lebanese electro-rock band Lumi in 2007, entitled “Banging in the Stars”. Since then, the duo has built a solid reputation as dance music producers, and their tracks receive impressively positive feedback on Lebanon’s dance floors. Their second release, a remix for Fady Ferraye's “Rhodesia”, was released on Presslab Records. Their third production, “Get Together”, was remixed by Till Von Sein, P.Toile and Tigerskin, and received support from renowned names in the field of dance music, such as Laurent Garnier.
The pair’s fourth production, “Ekhla3”, features humorous Arabic vocals and was never released due to its controversial content, but is still one of the audience's favorites whenever it is played. Next on Jade’s and Diamond Setter’s agenda are two massive remixes, one for Till Von Sein on Supplement Facts and the second on Readymix Records, to be released at the end of 2009. In the year 2009, Kevork partnered up with Lebanese producer Shant to record a track entitled “Champagne”, released on Fady Ferraye's label Goosebumps. He also remixed Nina Simone’s “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”, which will be released as a white label in 2010, alongside a remix by famed New York producer Abe Duque… The tireless Diamond Setter has also remixed “Man of Wool”, a song by Tunisian electro-jazz musician Dhafer Youssef, as well as Abe Duque’s “What Happened”.
Last but not least, Diamond Setter held successful gigs in the Middle East, Cyprus and Europe in 2009. He broadcasts a weekly, one-hour music set on local Lebanese radio station NRJ. Website : www.souncloud.com/diamond-setter www.myspcae.com/iamdiamondsetter