Fatima Al Qadiri

Kuwaiti musician, DJ, and conceptual artist Fatima Al Qadiri is one of the most creative electronic music producers active during the 2010s and 2020s. Her provocative, elaborate works examine subjects such as war and sociocultural identity, while fusing several up-to-date dance and experimental electronic styles. Desert Strike (2012) and Brute (2016) incorporate violent sound effects into abstract compositions, while Shaneera (2017) is an EP dedicated to Arab queer club culture, and Medieval Femme (2021) is a set of dreamy ambient pop that takes inspiration from classical poetry by Arab women.

Al Qadiri was born in Senegal and raised in Kuwait, and attended various colleges in the United States, graduating with a bachelor's degree from New York University. She debuted in 2011 with a pair of EPs: Warn-U (as Ayshay, released on Tri Angle) and Genre-Specific Xperience (UNO). Early on, she displayed a remarkable ability to draw from and switch between several dance music modes. In particular, the latter release ranged from juke to trance. A subsequent digital download-only EP offered remixes from the likes of DJ Rashad, Nguzunguzu, Ikonika, and Girl Unit. Night Slugs subsidiary Fade to Mind issued her next set, Desert Strike, a baleful 2012 EP inspired by Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf -- a video game she and her sister played in Kuwait, shortly after the Gulf War.

Al Qadiri then connected with Kode9's Hyperdub label, where she released the album Asiatisch in 2014. The set fell into place as an audio travelog for a trip through "an imagined China." As Future Brown, Al Qadiri and fellow producers Nguzunguzu and J-Cush combined to make a self-titled album released on Warp in 2015. The following year, Al Qadiri issued her second Hyperdub album, Brute, inspired by viewing coverage of 2014-2015 anti-police brutality protests that took place in the U.S. In 2017, she released Shaneera, an EP of five club tracks exploring Arab queer culture. Atlantics, her first full-length film soundtrack, arrived in 2019. She returned to Hyperdub in 2021 with Medieval Femme, an ethereal full-length with Arabesque melodies and poetic lyrics. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson, Rovi