Sama’ Abdulhadi
Although Sama’ Abdulhadi is the first Palestinian DJ to gain international recognition, her career really began when she left home for Beirut’s burgeoning techno scene. Plunging into Lebanon’s nightlife, Abdulhadi gigged, practiced, and got inspired by the many local and international DJs gigging on the scene while refining her trademark set: high-octane full-bodied techno with a distinct ark, a spectrum of moods, or as she says, “Berlin techno, but I perceive it in a Lebanese way.”
Abdulhadi’s story begins in Ramallah, Palestine’s de facto capital. Moving there from Jordan, her place of birth, she first connected with hip-hop and rap, the region’s foremost alternative genres. A penchant for music was evident at an early age, but it was the technical side that drew her in first, leading her to study in Beirut. She returned to Palestine with a new understanding of electronic music and brought with her the techno genre, inspiring a local community of artists that continues to flourish in the face of the geopolitical restrictions imposed upon it, as documented in the Boiler Room 4:3 short, “Palestine Underground.”
Intent on pursuing a career in music production, Abdulhadi studied audio engineering at SAE Institute London, the basis for two albums as Skywalker, her former alias, and a job in Cairo, Egypt, where she began working with bands and designing sound for moving pictures, including Egyptian films like “The Builders” and “Thread and Wall.” It was during this time in Egypt that Abdulhadi also trained with Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker (“Sound of Metal”) and later partnered with Arabic music incubator Eka3 to start her own publishing agency, Awyav.
Beirut was both her training and testing ground, but she was back on home turf in Ramallah when she played the 2018 Boiler Room debut that would make her a household name among international techno fans. Her 58-minute set has over ten million views to date, an achievement shared by very few DJs, all the more impressive for a Palestinian DJ who was virtually unknown outside the region when it first broadcast. The set was a window into the rare electric energy of Arab techno parties―the energy of people living in the moment. Abdulhadi saw the same attitude in Western audiences after the lockdown ended. A documentary film about Abdulhadi’s journey is currently being created by highly respected Middle Eastern producers and directors and will premiere in 2024.
Barely five years into her international career, Sama’ Abdulhadi’s story is at the forefront of a powerful movement. Her goal has always been to put Palestine on the musical map, and in doing so, she continues to garner international solidarity and a new level of understanding of the Middle East as a whole.
