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Since 2008, her name has been popping up more and more often. Nicole Moudaber is a rising star. In barely six years' time, she has been spinning records all over the world, making remixes for other major artists, producing her own album and, next month, launching a worldwide radio show with Carl Cox. Her private goals are even higher: the United States are calling. An interview with a fragile, small woman with immense ambitions.
The name ‘Queen of Dark Techno’ immediately conjures up the image of an imposing, large figure, but Nicole Moudaber is the opposite. A frail little person with an impressive bunch of wild curls, sits down opposite me on the terrace in Zaandam. She has been trying for two years to quit smoking, but she still hasn’t succeeded, she tells me, while lighting a cigarette. After a performance she also likes to enjoy a joint, but never before, she assures me. Her big sunglasses remain on her nose even when we move inside later, on account of the intimidating Dutch wind.
She has had a hectic week. On Wednesday she left Miami for London, Friday she was back in Naples and now she is here in picturesque Zaandam. No sleep for 24 hours. How is she holding up? “Vitamins are my great friend. In addition, I drink a lot of water,” she reveals her secret. The vitamin shots are also ready during the nine (!) hour sets that she regularly performs. Eating is not involved, and sometimes even going to the toilet is skipped. “I boost myself beforehand and during the sets I am usually locked in my zone,” she explains. “For example, I played on Stereo in Montreal and I didn’t go to the toilet there for nine and a half hours. People remember that and later spoke to me about it. Funny.”
Dance party between mosque and cathedral
Although the Nigerian-born Lebanese has only been working as a DJ and producer since 2008, the dance world has been no stranger to her for twenty years. She started as a promoter in her native Lebanon in 1990, right after the civil war that tore the country apart for years. “I had been introduced to dance music during my studies in London and visits to New York and wanted to bring it to Beirut. People didn’t know what DJs were and I introduced them there. When the DJs arrived with their suitcases full of vinyl, the Lebanese were completely surprised. Vinyl, that was something about rock music from the seventies, right? There were no clubs either, so I gave that first party outside, in a parking lot, between a bombed-out mosque and a ruined cathedral. We illuminated those ruins with lasers and light effects, it was magical! About a thousand people went completely crazy. They didn’t know what hit them.”
Full of fire, Nicole continues. About how, after that, various clubs opened their doors and about how dance spread in the French-European oriented capital of the Middle East. One of the nights she organized was on Halloween. Homosexuals in the predominantly Syrian-ruled country seized on her celebration as a dress-up party and went all out in their drag-queen outfits. “We wanted freedom, all of us,” she said. That night, however, photos were also taken. Not much later, rather compromising photos by Lebanese standards appeared under the headline “Perversion in Lebanon” on the cover of a foreign magazine and then on five pages in the magazine. Before Nicole knew it, the police were at her door, and she had to go with them to the station. Fortunately, her sister is a lawyer and saved her from at least a weekend in jail.
For Nicole, however, at that point, enough was enough. “I didn’t feel comfortable in Lebanon anymore, I was scared, even traumatized. That’s why I went back to London.” In doing so, she left behind her parents, three sisters and a brother in the troubled country. In London she found her partner who had his own vinyl label. Through him, she rolled back into the promotional world.
Button fobia
Meanwhile, Ibiza has been her home base for years. She bought a house there with her then partner that they thought they would renovate together ‘for a while’. Nicole had finished promoting and threw herself onto the villa. “I didn’t know anything but I had time. And so I got to know all the frustrations and pitfalls that come with such a renovation. What a hell! Besides, I didn’t speak the language yet. A nightmare in Spanish! But it was all worth it, because in the end it turned out great. Coincidentally, we sold the house last month. Now I am still looking for a pied-à-terre in the form of an apartment. A villa is no longer a necessity for me.”
However, Nicole did not let go of her passion for house and when the villa was finished, she wanted to remain active in the dance world, but no longer as a promoter. She decided to learn to spin. Of course, that wasn’t easy, so she had DJ and Traktor specialist Mike Henderson from Native Instruments come over from London.
Henderson is also behind the success of Victor Calderone, among others. For a week, day in, day out, she played with him and learned the tricks of the trade. Starting with vinyl! “I have an amazing vinyl collection. I have all the records of Strictly Rhythm Records. My big hero from the past is Armand van Helden, I also own all his released records.” The first time she played with her good friend and mentor Carl Cox was with CDs. By now she has also mastered also masters Traktor to perfection.
When I ask her how she got over the “button phobia” that plagues me personally and that many a beginning DJ or producer has to overcome, she bursts out laughing. That phobia is all too familiar to her. “I can’t give tricks, but I can give tips. It all starts with the passion for music. The rest is practice, knowledge, skills and dedication. You have to eat, drink, breathe and shit music every minute of every day.”
Starstruck
In 2013, the woman often described as mysterious in interviews was approached by Alanis Morissette to do a remix of the track ‘Receive’. “I was backstage at her show in London. Then it hit me: this woman has won no less than seven Grammys! And she wants me! I talked to her for about ten minutes and in the end, we are both very happy with the result.”
Today, very candid Nicole is rarely ‘starstruck’ herself. “Maybe when I face Madonna.” In the meantime, she has already met most of the musical greats of the earth. Her personal dance favorite of the moment is the Tunisian techno producer Kalden Bess. “I haven’t met him live yet, but we skype continuously. He’s fantastic!” Besides Kalden Bess and Canadian Nathan Barato, German Anja Schneider and Gary Beck have her special interest these days.
Music as comfort
Last year Moudaber’s debut album ‘Believe’ was released. In the period prior to that, her father died at the age of 79. She saw him shortly before his death. “I received my first award in Miami in 2012. He was so proud of me! In any case, he was happy that I was no longer in that promotion.” His death resulted in an album full of emotions. “He was seriously ill, and it touched me deeply to see him literally disintegrate, fade away. That feeling of loss can be heard in the record. But also, the comfort that the music offered me then.”
Initially, after the death of her begetter, she only wanted to work, forget, above all not to think. “If I had too much free time, I became depressed and cried constantly. Horrible.” Finally, for the first time in years, she was forced to take some time off. “I almost only slept for three weeks.”
Ambitions
Remarkable is her collaboration with the American clothing designer Patricia Fielding. On stage, Nicole herself is usually dressed in baggy workers and loose-fitting shirts. Is this the type of fashion she wants to bring to market with the design team? She laughs. “The clothes I wear during my performances have nothing to do with what I wear privately. I’m never sexy on stage because I want it to be about the music and not about me. When I play, I’d rather not have all the lights on me.” In any case, the talks with Fielding’s team are going well. The collection starts with T-shirts with cool prints. They will probably be on the shelves by the end of this year.
Nicole has even more ambitions. In the musical field she wants to work very hard. “Working is never a battle for me. I just never get tired of the music; I’m never satisfied and always want to move on to the next level.” In May she will also start, together with Carl Cox, a weekly radio show that can be heard worldwide. She secretly dreams of one day winning a Grammy herself. “I’m working towards that. That would be so great!”
And then there’s that big private dream. “I would prefer to work for the United Nations in due course. I would like to use my fame for the benefit of human rights. Use my artistic platform for this. A dream come true.” Incidentally, Nicole is ultimately a person like all of us, and certainly a person with principles. Inquiring about the well-known lavishly honored private parties of oil sheiks and other rich people of the world, she says: “I refuse a sheik. That is because of my experiences in Lebanon. I don’t like sheiks.” Than, looking mischievously over her sunglasses: “But if Albert of Monaco wants me at his party, I won’t say no.”
This interview with Nicole Moudaber is originally published on DJMag.nl on Wednesday April 23d 2014.
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