DETOUR Podcast 07: Kamal Naeem (Live at Hot Mass) by DETOUR PGH

For the 7th edition of the DETOUR Podcast series, we are excited to present a recording of Kamal Naeem, a DETOUR regular since 2012. In this live recording from Hot Mass in January, the Berlin-based DJ and Blank Slate label owner pulls together a set of upbeat, border-hopping gospel, soul, funk and disco.

@kamalnaeem

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Kamal Naeem is a DJ from the leafy college town of Ithaca, New York. He was exposed to jazz, Indian classical and West African music by his parents, and in the local music spots he caught jazz legends like Pharoah Sanders, Joshua Redman and the Mingus Big Band, as well as South Asian artists like Zakir Hussain and Hariprasad Chaurasia. After studying politics, Naeem moved to Berlin and started his label, Blank State. In 2018, Blank Slate is working with Auckland’s not-for-profit reissue label Rain&Shine on rare gospel records, among other projects. As a DJ, Naeem draws on the diverse tastes of his youth rather than the overarching 4/4 techno sound of Berlin: “Music is about constant curiosity,” he says, “so this mindset of being satisfied with only one or two particular styles is foreign to me.”

This podcast was recorded January 20, 2018 live at Hot Mass.
Presented by DETOUR.