The Inspo: DHIA + GRILLAC

MATTE: MATTE has a big community in Berlin and we keep returning to this exhilarating city every year. As two artists from Tunisia who found a piece of home in this city, what excites you and intrigues you the most about Berlin? What would you say are values which only Berlin has to offer compared to other metropolises?

DHIA & GRILLAC: Both of us grew up in an average town in Tunisia, so Berlin symbolizes the opportunity to have access to multiple inspiring art scenes, to meet and connect with like-minded people from all around the world. It’s definitely a certain freedom in exploring our surroundings that we feel in our everyday life, that excites us and challenges us in a good way to express ourselves and communicate with others. This is what we appreciate the most.

Sometimes it can be the smallest things that we have in our Quotidien. As we live close to each other, we often go for a little dog-walk through the streets of Friedrichshain, stopping by a few record shops with great music selections in the neighborhood. Also, the nightlife and club-scene is great!! It represents an outstanding and diverse quality of cultural productions and gives a platform to artists from the high and low culture. For example Funkhaus, where we share a studio: Berlin still has so much available potential when it comes to platforms to produce art & music. Funkhaus is a terrific historical building in the east directly at the Spree, that inhabits music studios, parties and cultural events. Spaces like this are rare and not easy to find.

MATTE: You have been dj-ing and making music for quite some time. We would love to get an insight into your relationship to music, how did you get into it? What inspired you and still inspires you? What is your emotional relationship to music?

DHIA: Through my studies at University I had the chance to build a polyphonic synthesizer almost 10 years ago – that was a big step for me, I immediately fell for it. I started to experiment with producing ambient music on my laptop. Before, I attended raves /parties in and outside of Berlin, it was the music that gave me a feeling of belonging. I remember the first few club experiences, when I felt the urge to record my own mix (with my first little cheap dj-controller) and send it to some friends to listen to it. Chatting and discussing my music with artists and friends of the community inspired me – It opened a door of inspiration and new possibilities for me to develop my persona, musically and in general. Berlin was/is an exciting breeding ground for art, music and cultural productions. This also counts for me.

GRILLAC: My passion for music and parties started in my teens when I was 15 and threw my first party as a DJ using Virtual DJ software in the garage of my parents' house. Then I started working with a DJ in my city where I started making mixtapes and burning them on CD, giving them to friends and strangers to take my music a little further. While working, I was watching live streams of parties in Berlin on BeatTV. I knew that my small beloved city in Tunisia is somehow limited and my new city is Berlin, so I decided to move to Berlin when I was 19.

Music was and is the buddy with whom I go through everything in life – ups and downs. Especially when I came to Germany not knowing anyone, it was the music that made me feel like I’m not alone.

MATTE: As artists who work and live between Berlin and Tunisia - two worlds which seem to be so different but have some similarities. What do you enjoy the most about experiencing both and where do you think these worlds and communities are clashing and what are the similar values?

DHIA & GRILLAC: Berlin is the first place where we feel like “this is the life we want to live”. As Tunisia is limited in many ways and sometimes pretty chaotic, we can express ourselves much easier in Berlin, having access to diverse media and tools. The most significant thing is the strong presence of our cultural background in Berlin – this is a cultural clash par excellence, but it works. It’s blending all the different layers of our personalities in terms of representing our cultural identities and developing a shared mission in a bright community – a “north-African culture living in Berlin + expressing ourselves through music in the techno scene”-way of life.

MATTE: A day with Dhia and Momtez - tell us where you would take us to 1. Club, 2. eat, and 3. see some dope art, and 4. where to shop in Berlin?

DHIA & GRILLAC:

1. Panorama Bar/ Berghain, AEDEN, Tresor

2. Umami (Asian fusion), BerlinBurger, Zola Pizza next to our Studio

3. Gropius Bau, BQ Gallery, C/O, Schinkel Pavillon

4. Humana, Voo Store, HHV, Fleemarket at Boxhagener Platz

MATTE: What’s currently playing on your playlist?

DHIA & GRILLAC: We collected some tunes by producers and artists we follow and support - that would fit in a club mix - but gathered also some dope traditional, experimental and popular jams from icons and persona that inspired us since our childhood. Going through a wide musical spectrum from disco and pop to breakbeat and ambient.

MATTE: The best party/event you’ve ever dj-ed at?- And why?

DHIA: Porzellan Bar: it was a mellow summer evening/night at AEDEN Club – the people, the crowd, everyone was sweaty and smiling, enjoying their time. While playing, I saw a lot of friends dancing and screaming to my music. This mixture of images that i have in mind from just one night is precious – that made my night!

GRILLAC: Future Goes Late: It’s the afterparty of the Future East Festival with last year's theme of integration based on artists from the Middle East - a party I was and am involved in organizing. We had a great attendance of festival guests until midnight when the afterparty started and I started The opening. It was such an euphoric feeling when the crowd came into the bunker room and saw all the faces going crazy for the music and dancing. I will always remember that night.

MATTE: What’s the best advice someone ever gave you?

DHIA: My father always tells me: “look forward”. I keep his advice close to my heart.

GRILLAC: Once a stranger told me:” less talking, more working” that changed my life.