To Ali, his djing excellence is a function of his honesty and compassion. He is terribly ambitious for his cause, but personally humble. His ad-hoc style allows him to entertain his crowd, and connect with them, while pushing them through his music. His growing career tells the story.
From humble beginnings in 1995, Ali Ajami moved from Lebanon to the booming town of Orlando, Florida, a burgeoning dance hub heavily influenced by the British styles of Sasha and John Digweed, and breeding local talents such as Chris Fortier, Jimmy Van M, and Sean Cusick. With his first exposure to the world of house music there, Ali was hooked, and his passion for the music and performing began.
His djing career took off when he moved to Montreal in 1997 and started with a group of friends Liquid State of Mind (LSM), an event production and promotions company that set the stage for the progressive sound in Montreal through their popular events at clubs such as High Bar and Stereo.
In 1999, he moved to Boston and landed a residency at the legendary Chrome Thursday night at Axis with John Debo, and a year later, secured a second residency at Avaland Fridays at Avalon (a 2,500 capacity night that gained international recognition for its world class production and bookings), holding that residency for 4 years. Both residencies provided him with the opportunity to play alongside the best and biggest international acts. His consistent performance gained him massive recognition among the international dj circuit, and earned him Best DJ of the Year’ award in Boston for the year 2003.
During his years in Boston, Ali had the honor of appearing twice on John Digweed’s infamous KISS 100 radio show, receiving great reactions on both appearances, and was listed as a Future DJ Hero’ to look out for by John Digweed, Danny Howells, and Max Graham, in the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs’ issue for 2004. To be named that by artists that have majorly influenced him to become a DJ is a dream come true for Ali, but also a true result of his apparent talent, and passion for the music.
Perusing his goal further, Ali relocated to Dubai in 2005, where he landed a residency with Deep Nights at Club Trilogy; considered one of the top nights in the region, where he has been exposing his unique sounds to the Dubai masses and playing alongside some of the world’s biggest DJs on a weekly basis. Ali quickly established himself as one of the top DJs in Dubai and the Middle East, winning the 2006 Thirst Studio Gulf Regional competition, which provided him the opportunity to work with Groove Armada in their London and Barcelona studios, and affirmed his position as one of the most respected artists in the region.
Ali’s apparent abilities extended beyond Dj’ing though, as he got involved in production and in the record label business; starting off first as head AandR for Sporadic Groove in 1999, a local Boston label, and then launching his own labels (Chug Records and Opek Music) with his LSM crew, and heading the AandR for both. On the production side, his collaborations with partners Chris Micali and Matt Wasley has been released on labels such as Bedrock, Nu-Republic, Swift, and Vapour, in addition to new releases lined up on his new label project Stranded Records’ with Ohm Records (Dubai), and his recently launched Boston based imprint with Chris Micali, Commonwealth Recordings’. Through these projects, Ali remains firm to his original goal – to promote the music he is passionate about, and to work with artists that inspire him.
For Ali, what is constant is adaptation while preserving his core strength. His underlying criterion is simply quality, and cutting edge music. And this cannot be better reflected than in his current sets and production.