Ernesto Chahoud, Yukah San, Natalie Shooter, Jackson Allers: Beirut groove collective all-nighter

The Beirut groove collective (BGC) brings the region’s oldest and only strictly 45 funk and soul party to Beirut art center for a second edition of this rooftop vinyl party series.

The night will feature rare and obscure 45 vinyls of northern soul, african funk, ’60s garage, deep funk, ethiopian clappers and r&b stompers. Sets come from BGC co-founder and record digger ernesto chahoud with his 45 selections dug from the dusty crates everywhere from beirut to Addis Ababa; Beirut-based dj and film director jackson allers with his deep fried southern soul and funk, who’ll also be mc-ing the night, swiss reggae and soul head dj yukah and british dj and editor natalie shooter with her sets of northern soul  and r&b.

The party marks the return of an exciting collaboration – the perfect pairing between BGC, renowned for their niche of underground parties that provide an alternative to Beirut’s nightlife scene, and BAC, a space and platform dedicated to contemporary art and culture in Beirut.

Now into its eighth year, the BGC has become the premier destination for deep funk, soul, northern soul, and African funk in the middle east. throwing monthly parties in Beirut everywhere from basements clubs and beaches to warehouses on the suburbs of the city, the Beirut-based collective of DJs has also hosted some of the leading international DJs, tastemakers and crate-diggers from the funk and soul scene, loyal to the format of the 45.

Established in 2009 by pioneer DJ Ernesto Chahoud, the BGC began by organizing “house party” style events with a premium on utilizing alternative, community-oriented spaces as a means of drawing parallels to the underground funk and soul parties that used to occur in the major urban centers of America and Africa in the 1970s. Since then the BGC have built a loyal following, introducing crowds in Beirut to little-known music varieties and sounds as diverse as African-American soul and funk music, Arabic funk from the ‘70s, vintage Ethiopian grooves, and northern soul. Playing music that often comes with an important social or political context, it’s no surprise that their parties have become a kind of community movement themselves – where music is a unifying force.

Over the last few years, the BGC has built a solid reputation among the international scene, hosting and playing alongside DJs and producers such as keb darge (BBE/ UK), Andy Smith (ex-Portishead/UK), Jan Weissenfeldt (poets of rhythm/Germany), Mr. Thing (BBE/ UK), DJ Format (aka matt fox, Jurassic 5; UK), Ollieteeba (herbalist/UK), Marchype (dusty donuts/Germany), Janis Jakarta aka Habibi Funk (Jakarta records/Germany) and Nicodemus(wonder wheel recordings, turntables on the Hudson/USA). The BGC have also taken their musical philosophy around the world, wowing crowds across the middle east and Europe, from Dubai and Amman to London and Vienna.

The BGC has become an attraction for the best diggers and DJs in the world, where they can spin their obscurest records to an open-minded crowd and exchange music knowledge and rare records with the Beirut groove collective’s resident crate diggers.