DJ OF THE WEEK 11.7.11: NICOLE MOUDABER

Music has the power to bring people together, to unite the world, at least that’s what we sing about, but how many of us truly believe that, not many. One person who does and has seen the power of music in action, is Nicole Moudaber.

Born in Nigeria and raised in Lebonon, Moudaber grew up loving the drums, something that I would think is quite natural for someone born and raised in the Mother land, the birthplace of the talking drums, the ancestral sounds of the House music we love. And that is precisely what was not so natural in this environment, the modern sounds of Electronic music, and even more so, a female promoter helping said genre grab a foothold in the local nitelife scene. Keep in mind, this was the early 90’s, soon after the end of a war that had ravaged the nation. If you think it’s hard for a woman to make a name for herself in the EDM scene in the US or Europe, imagine what Moudaber was up against.

Somehow, Moudaber managed, in fact, she more than managed. Her parties, held in Beirut, and famously located next door to a bombed out Cathedral and a Mosque are now stuff of legend. They were the first to introduce the locals to many of the names that we take for granted, such as Carl Cox, Steve Lawler, and Danny Tenaglia, DJs that now know her on a first name basis, who consider themselves her fans, and, all these years later, make sure to add Beirut, now a bonafide party city, as a stop on their tours.

Moudaber also has expanded into studio work, and has released a few very noteworthy EPs ‘A La Follie’ and ‘3rd Leg’, appeared in various compilations, and done more than a few remixes such as one of her latest, Spektre’s ‘Minds Eye’ which shows off more of her Techno side.

These days, you can catch Moudaber behind the DJ booths of the hottest clubs in the world from her homeland to Canada, to the US, Europe, and beyond, and of course in her new home of Ibiza. And in all of these places, she is continuing the work she began in Beirut all those years ago. When asked once what she would be doing if she weren’t a DJ she replied simply, “U.N. Amnesty International – Human Rights.” See, though her parents possibly prefer she were doing just that, thing is, through her promotional endeavors, through her mixing of modern electronic music, she is doing something that first started in her homeland thousands, if not millions of years ago, bringing people together through dance. Moudaber gives us hope that it’s not just talk when we say music can bring people together, she shows us that it is possible, in fact, she shows us that maybe, we should be doing more.