MENA DJs to Watch in 2025

Cover image by Pineapple Papi

Beneath the glossy veneer of the mainstream electronic music circuit lies an underground electronic scene brimming with raw, unfiltered energy—a defiant counterculture shaping its own narrative. In the Middle East and North Africa, this scene occupies a precarious space, thriving in spite of social media’s distortion of artistic ecosystems and the homogenization of taste. 

You may not yet have heard from many of the DJs listed here yet, but with their unpredictable choices and boundary-pushing sets, they are carving their own path, emerging out of their local communities with authenticity and impeccable taste. We expect to be seeing a lot more of them on dancefloors across the region in 2025.

Amin Trabelsi Tunisia

Image by MedMhamdi 

Amin Trabelsi is a DJ and founder of event brand Tri-City, who is amongst the rising new wave of young talents taking over the vibrant Tunisian clubbing scene. Fueled by a diverse range of artistic influences, Amin has slowly established a reputation for himself and a designated space behind the decks with his unique selections and effortless mixing flow. His sound is a mixture of chic laid-back minimal house and ambient melodies with a bit of funky groove that command dancefloors wherever he plays. 

Alessandra Lebanon

Image by Alessandra Ziade 

Based in Dubai, collector and DJ Alessandra has been keeping dancefloors across the MENA underground scene on all toes with her thoughtfully-curated mixes of 90s sounds, encompassing various genres from house and electro to breakbeat and trance. 

Ali Youssef  Egypt With a penchant for crate-digging, Cairo-born vinyl spinner Ali has craved a niche underground sound with his chill, laid-back and funky approach to mixing house. His sets incorporate deep and minimal beats with elements from electro, often featuring crisp drum patterns, warm groovy synths and sophisticated transitions. 

Biirdperson  Saudi Arabia 

Image by Pineapple Papi 

Filmmaker and DJ Lujain Albishi, aka Biirdperson, has been contributing to the growing Saudi electronic music scene, with her soulful blend of deep house and techno, a nostalgia-kissed sound that is smooth and embellished with undertones of her Saudi heritage. 

Retro Cassetta MoroccoAs his stage name suggests, Badreddine Haouat, aka Retro Cassetta, is a crate digger known for mixing unearthed North African sounds from the past four decades—from Algerian and Moroccan chaabi to rock and rap—with Berber and Islamic rhythms. While Retro Casetta has been playing for a while, 2024 was a break-out year with a host of regional gigs as well as a stand-out set as part of Boiler Room Marrakech.

CÉL Lebanon

Image by Lea Atallah 

Although it was by an off-the-cuff suggestion that Celine Abboud, aka CÉL, first started mixing, she has effortlessly risen to prominence as a Lebanese house connoisseur for her immaculate dancefloor-ready selections. In her sets, she skillfully goes back and forth between the vast sub-genres of house music with a stylish finesse, incorporating breaks and elements of techno, in a way that gives some old-school vibes.

Cheb Mimo Alegria/Tunisia

Mohammed Belhadj Aissa, aka Cheb Mimo, is one of the few selectors who are actively pushing the traditional rhythms of North Africa, such as Rai, Gnawa and Stembali into the UK underground dance scene. His sets are a treasure trove of rare retro cassettes and vinyl records from the 80s, 90s and 2000s –a byproduct of his relentless digging -encompassing disco, funk and drum n bass. 

Joumana Egypt  

Joumana is a vinyl DJ and collector who is known for unearthing classic Southwest Asian and African records. Her sets are driven by Arabic and African sounds, mixed into disco, funk, bass-heavy percussion and shaabi breaks. 

Jaafar Al Tayar Saudi Arabia

Image by Jaafar Al Tayar 

Jaafar Al Tayar is the 20-year-old winner of MDLBEAST’s Storm Shaker DJ Competition 2023 and has since been touring across international and regional venues. Spinning vinyls since the age of 16, Al Tayer focuses on deep house beats with minimal grooves.

K-Laff Saudi Arabia/Egypt

Image by Abdelrahman El-Attar

Jeddah-based DJ/producer K-Laff is recognized for his deep dives into house, disco, and club music whilst spotlighting the Middle Eastern underground scene. His sets are colourful and groovy, jumping between breaks, acid, and heavy bass. 

Khalil Egypt

Image by Alicia Moana

Khalil has been dominating dancefloors across Barcelona’s local clubs and venues lately with his sets, a diverse mixture of tech-house, afro-house, and funk that pushes the boundaries of traditional set flows. His tracks have been featured in sets by world-renowned selectors Mochakk, Nicholas Gazitua, Jessica Trbst, and Gabo Oliviera, just to name a few.

LazerGazer Syria

Damascus-born DJ and sound designer Hala Maner, aka LazerGazer, is currently a resident at Garage Noord and a force to be reckoned with in Amsterdam’s clubbing scene. Her sound is bass-heavy with pulse-pounding percussion, mixing contemporary club music with a wide range of influences and subgenres, from electro to breakbeats. She manned decks at some of Europe’s top festivals, including Rewire and Dekmantel. 

Lyss Lebanon

Image by Tatiana Prieto 

A burgeoning force in the region’s electronic music scene, Lyss’ signature high-energy sets have been dominating dancefloors from Beirut to Paris and beyond. Her sound is raw, dynamic and versatile at best, blending house, techno and trance with electro, breakbeats and baleric, and often featuring influences from the UK dance scene and deep club edits of classic tunes. 

Mamadoo  Egypt

Image by Cairo Zoom

A vinyl spinner and collector, Cairine selector Mamadoo has made a name for himself with driving minimal and techno sets, peppered with acid-licked grooves and razor-sharp electro breaks that hit just right.

Martina Egypt/UAE

Image by Dina El Sawi 

Martina is a Dubai-based Egyptian DJ and producer whose sound is purely experimental, unconventional and unrestrained, embodying the untamed energy of Cairo’s underground raves. Drawing inspiration from Abadir and Umru’s music, she mixes left-field and abrasive sonic textures with club music, into intense yet cathartic and danceable electronic beats. Her sets are characterized by energetic shifts of turbulence through polyrhythmic percussion and syncopated drum patterns. 

Mira/Kira Lebanon/UAE

A Lebanese audio engineer, sound designer and DJ, Miriam Saboulni, is known for her two distinct musical identities: Mira and Kira. Her Mira side leans into the groovy rhythmic side of the house music spectrum, while Kira is more of experimental, layering various field recordings with unconventional sonic textures with an emotional depth.

Mira Egypt

Image by Mira Amin 

Yellow Tape resident Mira has become one the most promising spinners in Cairo’s underground electronic scene in a short period of time, with her hybrid sets, known for their warm yet bold sonic textures, merging a little bit of house, techno and minimal. 

Nova Retra Egypt

Image by Mena Assad 

Drawing inspiration from her Egyptian and Russian roots, Nova Retra’s music re-envisions analog sounds, pulled from her vinyl collection of rare dance records from the 80s and the 00s, cultivating a distinctive sonic identity that is both nostalgic and futuristic. 

Nanofunk Morocco 

With his ability to manipulate sounds and affinity to spin on a Dawless setup of Gameboys and Nintendo consoles, Jalal Yassine, aka Nanofunk has carved a niche for himself in the electronic music scene. His sets are purely improvised and funky, combining samples of old-school gaming sounds with futuristic electronic beats, drum n bass, and afrobeats. 

Nedz Egypt

Image by Marco Russo 

Nedz is an open-format DJ who is known for her unique approach to mixing the sound of her hometown Cairo with global rhythms. Her sound is heavily influenced by various cultures, fusing hip-hop and Rnb textures with Middle Eastern sonic undertones, Afrobeats, Caribbean and Latin grooves. 

Rish Jordan/Palestine

Image by Mohammad Hammoudeh 

Rish is a Palestinian-Jordanian DJ, curator and label owner of House of Afandi and Club Circa. His funky disco-infused house mixes and sublime track selection established him as one of the cornerstones of the Jordanian underground scene. 

Serge Volant Lebanon

Hailing from Beirut, Serge’s penchant for modular synthesizers and crate-digging propelled him to be one of the most versatile selectors in the region’s underground electronic scene, playing unpredictable rare grooves on a eurorack, either pulled from his personal vinyl collection or sampled from live recordings, which he effortlessly layers with breakbeats, electro-synths and numerous processed oscillators. 

Shellwell Iran

Image by Mak

Currently based in Dubai, Iranian-Turkish spinner Shellwell has made a name for herself in the region’s underground scene with her versatile sets, securing residencies at some of the top clubs and venues across the Middle East. Her sets are versatile, funky and bass-heavy, encompassing a wide range of sounds, from minimal and garage to disco, jungle and drum n’ bass. She is currently a resident at Dubai’s Soho Garden.

Saadé Syria

Image by Karl F. Sfeir

As a DJ and founder of Underground House (UGH) –the first Syrian-based platform to organize and host electronic music events across the country -Saade is one of the pillars of the Syrian underground scene who is known for his infectious mix of minimal house and micro sound and tookover on Boiler Room Damascus in 2019. Although he has been spinning for years, 2024 is when he first started booming outside the territory of his homeland, cementing his presence in the UAE. 

Snailee Tunisia 

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One of the finest selectors in the Tunisian underground scene, Snailee is known for his unique mix of micro-house, and classic and contemporary sleazy underground grooves. He’s been manning decks at some of the region’s most prestigious clubs, parties, and festivals, both in Tunisia and abroad, including BSMNT the Club, Desimana, Neverstill, Wabi and Fabrika Festival. 

Willillah Lebanon 

Image by Peter Naser 

Willillah is a Lebanese-born DJ, producer and co-founder of Beirut’s HighHats Community, who is recognized for her innovative left-field productions and dynamic sets. Her sound dabbles in a little bit of everything, from breakbeat and bass to hardcore, dnb and jungle, always incorporating unexpected yet fun kicks and wacky vocals. 

Yassir Morocco 

Born and raised in Tangier, Yassir is one of the most exciting and versatile selectors in Morocco’s underground electronic scene. His sets mesh together sonic textures from jazz with pulsating house grooves, always featuring a fine selection of eclectic tunes from the likes of Cobblestone Jazz and Rhadoo. He has been dominating dancefloors at major clubs and festivals in Romania, UK and Morocco, sharing the decks with global techno icons the likes of Traumer, Ricardo Villalobos, and Sonja Moonear, just to name a few. 

Zenim Jordan

Based in Dubai and Born in Amman, Zenim’s yin/yang approach to mixing has established her as one of the leading forces in the region’s underground scene. Her sets are playful and experimental, from guided meditations to groovy tunes inspired by different eras and areas, dabbling in a little bit of everything from funk and micro-house to techno.