Dancefloor Classics with The Beirut Groove Collective

If you’ve been throwing parties for a while, there’s probably a few select records you keep coming back to.
A calling card; a dance floor classic; a party anthem, call it what you like, but we can all agree that, as a regular punter on the other side of the decks, there’s a quiet comfort that comes with hearing those sweet, vaguely familiar melodies pulsing through the sound system.
DJ collective and all-vinyl club night Beirut Groove Collective know a thing or two about luring people to the dance floor.
Now, they’re not all about dropping classics left, right and centre (though this is the crux of this here playlist), the night is a space to share the rarities that co-founders Ernesto Chahoud – a DJ, radio host and compiler – and Natalie Shooter – a journalist, editor and DJ – have unearthed in their former home of Lebanon and on their travels in other parts of the world.
After throwing their parties in Beirut for 12 years, the pair have now relocated to London bringing the BGC spirit with them to new locations like The Jago and Well Seasoned. The music policy swirls around soul-fuelled finds from the Middle-East, Africa and across the globe: you can hear everything from Bellydance psych to Lebanese garage and Ethio jazz – but more importantly you’re likely to hear music you’ll never have heard anywhere else before – the “unshazamble” as Ernesto claims.
As they get into the swing of setting up shop in London – there’s already a bunch of dates in the diary at Servant Jazz Quarters, Well Seasoned alongside Charlie Bones, and The Jago – we asked them to share some of the tracks that have become their go-to BGC classics over the last 12 years.
Photo credit: Roland Ragi
Ernesto: When I first heard this record 14 years ago, I set my mind to go on a digging trip to Addis Ababa to explore more of this immediate addictive music! I never thought that this will become a BGC dancefloor classic the same way that I never imagined how Hirut ended up quitting music for Christianity, living outside the spotlights in a tiny apartment in Addis Ababa.
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