Beirut Groove Collective • w/ Natalie Shooter & Ernesto Chahoud • 2024.12.01

London-based collective of vinyl DJs, crate diggers, music obsessives and artists started in 2009, as an underground funk and soul party in the living room of community space Zico House in West Beirut. The party soon evolved into its present day strictly-vinyl format, expanding musically to showcase some of the pioneering records and diverse music scenes that came out of Beirut – a cosmopolitan hub for music – and the wider region in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. For over a decade, the BGC has thrown one of the SWANA region’s most popular underground clubnights in Beirut. The collective has helped shape Lebanon’s alternative clubbing culture, throwing regular parties in basement clubs, abandoned beachside villas and warehouse spaces in the forgotten fringes of Beirut. Six years ago, the BGC evolved into a weekly clubnight in Beirut and in 2021, the collective brought their clubnights to London with monthly residencies in grassroots venues across the city, as well as guest appearances at festivals, clubs and community spaces around the world. The BGC combines the DJ efforts of its co-founder Ernesto Chahoud, DJ, compiler, record collector and radio host (NTS, Do!! You!!!, Now-Again Records, BBE); music researcher, writer, DJ and radio host Natalie Shooter, (Radio Alhara, Do!! You!!!). The BGC was named in New York Magazine, as one of the ‘Top 15’ parties around the world and has been featured everywhere from The Guardian, Time Out London and Monocle Magazine to ARTE, the BBC and Vice Magazine.