This month, Cairo crew Desimana XP goes to the Middle East for a first tour outside Egypt. Starting with an event in Cairo last week, they’re now heading East with three dates in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon. They’re bringing Dan Andrei down to Riyadh on 11th February alongside Loop founder Daddybisht, Vinylmode, Majid and Sig, residents Bahaa and Maie and Amro Malhas from Vortex in Amman on 17th February and Bahaa again in Beirut on 19th February with co-founder of a tribe called tribe 3lias and Ariachi.
Desimana XP started in 2016 with a party in an abandoned building in the heart of downtown Cairo. “The feedback was overwhelming, people seemed very shocked this could even take place in Egypt,” said Maged AbdelMessih, head behind the project, in a short documentary. “I wanted to go back to my early roots and offer the city new concepts that were more intimate. That was the birth of Desimana,” he added.
Since then, the crew brought some of the biggest names of the minimal scene down to Egypt, such as Priku, Sonja Moonear, D’julz, Leo Pol, Barac, tINI, Afriqua, and Fumiya Tanaka. They celebrated their 5th birthday recently in the desert with the finest of the finest, Riccardo Villalobos and Raresh.
Their last showcase at Fabrika Festival in Tunisia was the spark for their first tour. “We are saddened we had to reschedule our date there due to pandemic restrictions. Working along and connecting with crews like Fabrika, A tribe called tribe, Waxlab, Vortex and Loop gives us hope and inspiration to what comes next,” told us Maged.
As he’s been traveling in the Middle East the past few months, exploring and observing the creative scene, he encountered people who were more or less doing similar work than theirs. “I was surprised to find a lot of heat and substance in everything I’ve experienced in each city. This inspired us to create a link between the creatives from there and strengthen the connection between the different communities for more inspiration and growth,” he added. Desimana XP then partnered with Loop in Saudi Arabia, Vortex in Jordan, and A tribe called tribe in Beirut. “We are considering this tour as a seed for a magical project that we’ll announce in the near future.”
Building the line-up for the tour was “rather effortless and more organic,” said Maged. “After the big noise Bahaa created in Tunisia for our last showcase at Fabrika Festival, and considering the high demand as well, it was a no brainer to have him lead the boogie for our first tour.” Andrei had just played for Desimana in Cairo in December and was a sweet addition to the family. They decided to extend another invitation to take part of their tour and showcase their experience in other cities.
To celebrate their first tour outside Egypt, they started with a first event in Cairo, where everything started. “Egypt is where Desimana was born, it was the real inspiration behind building those temporary spaces in unconventional locations and uncovering a different story for the party goers,” said Maged. They had a five stars line-up headlining Priku, residents Bahaa and Maie, and other talents such as Hakim, Mosto, Mazen, Nour Fahmy and Saleh Amin. “Holding this event really felt like how we started in 2016,” he added. “There’s always something about taking people to an unknown location that makes everyone surrender to the experience and breaks boundaries for expectations, allowing the party to be loose without any limitations.”
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