Beirut Groove Collective's Ernesto Chahoud

London after the Beirut blast

The Beirut blast caused hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries and billions of dollars worth of damage.


"I can't express anything but agony and anger."

Ernesto Chahoud, a DJ from Lebanon, and founder of Beirut Groove Collective, started buying records when he was 13-years-old.

Today, he has more than 10,000 and he knows each one. He said: “Each one has a story, my collection is constantly evolving."

He is living with his wife, Natalie, in Tufnell Park, having left west Beirut for north London.


Ammonium nitrate that was stored in the Port of Beirut, exploded on 4 August 2020.

It compounded the collapse of the century, according to the World Bank.

The local currency had lost 90% of its value. And rolling power outages along with a lack of essential goods and services created a dystopian reality for so many in Beirut. 

Ernesto was outside the county when the blast happened, and said: “Everything changed. The whole country was destroyed. First, I feel angry. Second, I feel lucky I wasn’t there. It’s weird.

"My house was damaged, my record store was damaged, the club was on the floor, it was unbearable."

The only thing that did survive the blast was his 10,000 records.


Ernesto said: “It was a struggle every day on all levels. People lost their money. Poverty is rising, rising, rising. Everyone just survived. It was the worst experience of their lives.

“I can’t express anything but agony and anger."

Ernesto knows a lot of people who died or were injured because of the blast. He said the country will need at least ten years to recover and that Covid was a minor detail.


When I spoke to Ernesto, on Friday 6 August, he had just finished quarantining. His vaccine wasn't certified in the UK so he spent two weeks isolating.

At first, he sounded groggy and slightly irritable. But this is understandable. Any amount of time penned up in a single spot is frustrating. He quickly rallied and became the radiant personality that his fans love to listen too. Ernesto is passionate. Passionate about music, about politics, about social justice. He darts from topic to topic, launching into each issue with zest.

Being born into a Communist militant family in the middle of a civil war has made Ernesto a political person. And he said that music is political.

As a child he played with guns as toys and listened to revolutionary songs from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Sudan. He said these powerful revolutionary songs have shaped his taste in music.

Ernesto was 16 when he started his career as a professional DJ. By 19 he was being paid full-time. More than two decades later, he is still getting hips to sway, heads to bob and feet to tap. 


He first came to London ten years ago for a set in a small art gallery in Hoxton. He said: "It was incredible."

Since then he has performed live sets all over the country. When we spoke, his next event was at The Night Owl, a new club in north London. In Beirut he hosted a weekly night with more than 600 party-goers, so the Night Owl's capacity of 100 is comparatively small.

Ernesto's diary is filling up with bookings, but he said he is cautious to accept gigs because he wants to start his own night and build his own crowd. He also wants to avoid any excessive commercialisation of his work.


The Global Talent Residency

Ernesto was endorsed by Arts Council England for The Global Talent Visa. The visa is for exceptional people in a range of fields from science and engineering to arts and culture. It has allowed him to move to the UK permanently and work here immediately.
 

Arts Council England received 2,116 applications for the Global Talent Visa between 2016 and 2021. Of those, 1,697 were endorsed.

Ernesto said: "I’ve earned it, (the global talent residency), for my skills."


Ernesto said he feels positive, but that visiting somewhere is very different from settling. He added that relocating hasn’t been easy. He spoke of Beirut fondly but accepts he is fortunate to be able to move.

On London's music scene, he said: "Nightlife in London is different than anywhere in the world. But the UK music scene is struggling."

The live music industry in Britain attracted more than 30m music fans in 2016. Live music tourism contributed £4bn to the UK economy in the same year. Brexit has been damaging for artists and Business Rates are an issue for venues.

The UK's music census, This is Music, revealed that the pandemic also hit the British music industry hard, with more than 69,000 people losing their jobs in the last year alone.

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music said: “The past 18 months have been exceptionally challenging for the UK music industry, with billions wiped off the value of the sector, but we are determined to look to the future and focus on recovery.”


Ernesto at The Night Owl

Ernesto at The Night Owl

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Ernesto at The Night Owl

Ernesto at The Night Owl


Ernesto is a resident DJ at NTS Radio, hosting a monthly show: ‘Beirut Daze’. He also has a monthly slot on Totally Wired Radio.

His sound is a cocktail of obscure African and Arabic records mainly from the 60s and 70s. His music is unusual and that’s what makes it special.

He said: “Unusual sounds become part of the night, you have to trust your crowd. Some records hit you in the face, sometimes it takes more than once, sometimes they evolve. And sometimes they don’t work. You just have to test them.”

He said this is why he refuses gigs. He doesn't want to have to appease a commercial crowd. He wants to build his own following, he wants to build his own sound and to have that sound in the collective memory of those people.

Since we spoke he has performed all over London. And his upcoming event at Peckham Levels, on 4 December, is sold out.


Take a look at his Records from Lebanon guest mix.

Or stay up-to-date with his movements.