You read that correctly. We can’t make this stuff up. Over the weekend, Aly & Fila were booked to play a show at Zouk in Singapore. At some point during the show, Fila (Fadi Wassef Naguib), turned the music down to announce his last track. (Watch the video here) In the video he says:
“…it seems that Zouk here wants someone else to play. Not only because of that! Because apparently he’s the son of a Prime Minister. Thank you so much, enjoy my last track. I’ll see you somewhere in the future. Not in Zouk anymore! Because I won’t play in Zouk any-fucking-more. They’ve insulted me, but I love you guys.”
Zouk is one of the world’s most famous clubs and has drawn thousands of fans to its amazing venue. As far as we know, this has never happened before at Zouk, although it has happened to artists at other venues. Mark Farina and Dirty South have both been asked to leave the decks so that another DJ could play more commercially appealing music (and those incidents happened inside the US)
… But that was back in the day when electronic music wasn’t that popular. The situation here has to do with politics.
Politics in the music scene are extremely difficult to navigate. We can’t imagine what its like for Zouk’s management to have to appease a Prime Minister’s son. After all, you can literally get caned and flogged in Singapore for a myriad of offenses. We can’t imagine what kind of backlash they would get from a Prime Minister’s son.
Zouk has responded to the outcries across the internet with a statement and has said, “Zouk would like to clarify that DJ Fadi (Fila) was not at any point of time asked to end his set prematurely before the contracted set end time of 3:30 a.m.” This is technically true. Aly & Fila (Fadi) did play until after his contracted time.
But what they have failed to mention is that they had pushed his start time back. They also informed Fadi that he could play until the end of the night (4:15 a.m.). From the statement on Aly & Fila’s Facebook page, it looks like at around 3:30 a.m. the artist manager at Zouk asked if Fadi wanted to go back to back with Zouk’s VIP guest (Norashman Najib, the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak). Fadi said “No Way!” Then 15 minutes later he was asked to leave the decks. According to Fadi, Zouk has been lying about the circumstances in order to save face. You can read his Facebook post in the drop down tab below.
[accordion-group title=”Aly & Filas Facebook Statement Of The Events at Zouk Night Club” ]
The start of a great night that didn’t end so well:
First of all Zouk Singapore has been one of my favorite clubs in the world, so sad that my last time playing there ended this way. Before you go through my statement plz remember that I can’t blame Zouk in general as there are a lot of great people working there from audio engineer to VJs etc….
I will make it really easy and clear with a list of facts:
1-my contracted set time was 1:30 – 3:30
2-Zouk’s new owner was hosting a “VIP” guest (the Malaysian PM son)
3-I arrived at Zouk at 1:00 am and had a quick interview.
4-Byden who works for Zouk and who takes care of the artists and the night in general told me I can play until the end. I can finish 4:15 and then play an extra 15 minutes more.
5-I went to the DJ booth they introduced me to the the “VIP Guest” and the new owner of Zouk.
6-started my set at 1:40
7-at 3:30 Byden came to me and asked me if I m willing to play back 2 back with that “VIP” guest and my answer was simple:”no way”
8-I continued playing then 15 mins after Byden came to me and he told me that I will have to stop as the new owner wants the “VIP guest” to play.
There was no misunderstanding!!! And instead of apologizing, Zouk keeps posting those lame statements and articles trying to get away with it.
My advice to Zouk:
1-never disrespect artists who helped you build your brand. I m not saying I built their brand, just talking in general. They need to respect their residents and local talents and their international guests.
2-try to fire your new owner 🙂
3-fire the PR team
4-admitting your mistake is Brave, but you aren’t.
I did what I did to defend my right as a human being not as a famous DJ or whatever. I was insulted and I reacted. I didn’t expect that it would go viral like that, but this is what I call Karma. I just wanted to let our fans who payed money to see me know the reason why I stopped my set and I didn’t play the 3 hours like every time I have been there.
That’s it!
Fadi Wassef aka Fila from Aly & Fila[/accordion-group]
Aly & Fila are hands down one of the greatest acts to see live in the trance scene these days. We feel bad that the fans got their time cut short with Aly & Fila in Singapore and that yet another artist has been removed from the decks to appease some VIP.
What are your thoughts on how this situation was handled? Tell us in the comments below!
Important things happen in Pacific Northwest nightlife, and DMNW will send you alerts!
