HENCE, MANAGEMENT: Nurturing the Middle East's DJ Talent

Over recent years, we’ve witnessed an eruption of collectives, record labels and agencies whose grassroots efforts were mostly directed towards the rap industry, leaving a gap in the market. Although the main drivers of income within the region's music industry are repeatedly proven to be nightlife and clubbing activities, artists and DJs are left with little to no proper representation. Dubai-based agency Hence, Management (yes, with a comma) have lately begun to surface, capitalising off the ludicrous electronic music talent in the region, enabling the scene to reach its potential.

Hence, Management is an artist management company founded in 2022 by digital marketing and artist manager Omar Gamal, who seeks to unearth and support regional talent. Previously based in Egypt, where he was involved with the local techno scene, Gamal continuously strives to enlarge the electronic community and thrust it onto the international stage. He aims to expand his offices and headquarters beyond the UAE across Europe in hopes of reaching a more diverse audience and team.

Hence, Management’s roster is composed of up-and-coming techno/house heads like Masry, Mo Ezaby, Sven Jager and others, and successfully gains traction through events and collaborations with respected platforms such as BoilerRoom and Radio Al Hara.

In this exclusive SceneNoise interview, Omar Gamal breaks down the origins of Hence, Management, walking us through the early stages of his career working alongside DJ duo Aly and Fila, some upcoming projects with familiar names like Habibi Funk, Nooriyah and Saliah, and his thoughts on the larger underground music culture in the region.

How did Hence, Management come to be?

I grew up in an entrepreneurial house, which has always played a role in shaping and inspiring various aspects of my life. Coming from my love for music, I founded Hence, Management in 2022 with the vision of supporting emerging talents from Egypt and the region. The equation is simple, there are many artists, musicians, and DJs that stand for something original and have a unique sound that celebrates our scene, yet they lack the right support. This is where Hence, Management comes into place.

We take pride in having an artist roster that is a mix of both local and international talents, with most being of Arab roots.

Since 2013, I have been working at Aly & Fila Future Sound of Egypt ‘The Agency’ as a booking agent. Later on, I founded Symbols Agency, which broke through with artists like Ahmed Romel. We toured together to some of the world's famous music festivals like Tomorrowland. I worked on his touring schedule, which went from the US with the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, to Buenos Aires and Guadalajara, to Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai and Beirut.

How does Hence differ from other artist management companies?

As I mentioned previously, we understand the lack of support artists in the underground scene are getting, yet we also know the type of support they need as we are part of the community and have built relationships with them over the years.

In addition to providing management services, we have offered artists platforms to share their music with the world, and connected others to collaborate and create unique sounds together. After travelling around the region and understanding the different sounds and crowds, we have launched themed club nights such as Hence Series, Raksetna and many more, where our talents feel at home while celebrating their sounds.

Whilst many local labels and collectives have popped up over the past few years, there's actually very little representation of regional DJs and electronic acts. How does Hence, Management step in to fill that gap?

I’m going to be blunt. Too often do many amazing DJs and acts have a large impact on their local scenes, but don’t get the chance to tour the world and spread their signature sound and music ideology. We want to fill this gap by connecting scenes, label bosses and promoters together, and when we have the chance and resources, we will also host some of those amazing DJs.

One of the big contributors to the scene right now is YellowTapeRecords, which has been doing something significant to the music scene with their residents and team. This is why I am eager to collaborate with many brands like YTRC, Radio Al Harra and others to kick off a showcase in Dubai, and expand it to cities like Amsterdam and Berlin.

What are your main strategies in marketing these DJs and electronic acts in general? How does it differ from marketing traditional artists?

When it comes to traditional artists, mass media and other platforms are responsible as they often have well-established names supported by production houses and record company's.

At Hence, we run our outreach through social media and platforms that celebrate and understand the underground scene such as Resident Advisor, Scene Noise, Mixmag, Radio Al Hara, NTS and Ibiza Global Radio. With the rise of Instagram as a platform and rich media, we can efficiently promote a new release, an upcoming event, or guest mixes by posting video content on the appropriate channels. A good example is Trommel and raw minimal, which focuses entirely on house, minimal and Romanian minimal. But it's not just that. We're very fortunate to have a supportive community that is passionate about what we do and never shies away from supporting both online and offline.

How important is it for a label to host its own event series and what is the process behind organizing them?

This is a good question. We have a formula when we work on our own events lineups. We always make sure that the opening act is someone who is performing for the very first time in the city or in general. One idea we got from ‘Fresh Meat’ is that, in addition to the headlining act, we make sure to have our own residents and DJs present in each line-up. This way, we make sure to contribute in marketing our artists.

As for the events, I am always keen on being there during the full event from setting up and preparing the venue till the lights go up. Building these relationships with the artists and the community happens by being present and we take pride in that since day one.

How have the past events proceeded - what would you change/ameliorate?

The most common feedback we hear is that, “You guys are doing something special and we need more of this..."

To date, we booked a fine list of artists like El Waili, Vinyl Mode, Disco Arabesquo, and many more which have all been successful, and now we are preparing for our next event with Moving Still on October 7th. What would we change.. we're happy with what our partners have offered yet with our growing community we're looking to explore venues with higher capacity.

What is Dubai's role in supporting and promoting the electronic scene?

Dubai is a metropolitan city with a wide range of diversity in culture and background with the ministries and departments supporting independent labels and collectives. If you take a look at the city's event calendar, you'll notice that there's one electronic music festival almost every weekend.

How do you predict the electronic scene will evolve in the next few years across the Middle East?

It’s already growing, it’s already evolving. We are shifting from exporting electronic music to importing it. We used to travel to Miami Music Week, and Amsterdam Dance Event to get to learn about the latest music technologies, trends and artists. Whereas now we are witnessing a movement like MDLBeast and XP in Saudi which certainly opened a getaway to the Arab world.

What are some of the challenges that you are facing in trying to make your company grow?

Our biggest challenge, but also opportunity, is that we are constantly on the lookout for the right venues, sponsors and fashion brands that share the same ideology and love for the scene.

We are partnering up with Blitz Productions to bring a unique lifestyle and music experience called ‘JWLRY BOX’, where all visitors interested in music, fashion and art will find a marketplace to exchange their handmade jewellery and other sustainable accessories, as well as a wide range of local and international live acts and painters will be present in the festival. We invite everyone to be part of this unique experience and encourage them to reach out for collaboration requests.

What do you see Hence, Management growing into in the next few years?

Right now, we want to continue expanding in the UAE, Egypt and the rest of the region through working with more artists and hosting more successful events. Our goal of supporting local artists goes all the way to having them play their music to the world on some of the most renowned stages.

You have an upcoming event with DJ Moving Still. What is the significance of Moving Still headlining ‘Hence 07’ both for the electronic scene and for Hence? Can you briefly introduce/explain the event?

It's a great honour to host one of the up-and-coming Saudi artists, DJ Moving Still, who played a Boiler Room set with Nooriyah in London earlier this year as part of ‘Middle of Nowhere’. This is the first headline gig for Moving Still in the SWANA region, and I'm very excited that Jamal will be presenting his music in an Arab country for the first time. It's also a special moment because he'll be sharing the decks with his friend Cascou, as well as Hence’s amazing talents Halawa and Khaled. The event is taking place at a speakeasy bar called Off The Wall.