Deena Abdelwahed Khonnar Clear Vinyl Edition

Deena Abdelwahed’s first album is shifting the epicenter of contemporary electronic music south.

Pronounced “Ronnar“ (an essential detail so as to avoid facile misinterpretation by French-speakers) it is a term that makes the most of Tunisia’s cultural and linguistic spectrum. It evokes the dark, shameful and disturbing side of things, the one we usually seek to hide, but which Deena instead sticks our noses in with her debut. It is a testament to Deena’s coming into her own as a world citizen, and as an artist. A self-construction made of frustrations and constraints, borne of retrograde mindsets, which are not the prerogative of either the East or the West, and which she tirelessly strives to expose and break.

Throughout the 45 minutes of “Khonnar“, Deena breaks down the codes of bass, techno and experimental music, and writes the manifesto for a generation that does not seek to please or to conform, taking back control of its identity – with all the attendant losses and chaos. A new creative world order is taking shape, a new tilting point between north and south, the response of a connected and liberated youth who takes the control of the new decolonization.

About Deena Abdelwahed
A Tunisian producer and DJ, Deena Abdelwahed arrived in France at the age of 26 after earning her stripes on the Tunis scene and as part of the Arabstazy collective. Her hybridized DJ sets, on the outer reaches of sub-cultures, and especially the one she performed at Sonar 2017 (one of the edition’s Top 10 according to the New York Times), propelled the young artist into the clubbing universe’s most demanding spheres (Boiler Room, Concrete, Room for Resistance, Säule/Berghain…). As a producer, she was the creator of an acclaimed performance at the CTM Berlin Festival («All Hail Mother Internet»). Her first EP «Klabb», released in early 2017 on InFiné, was met with critical acclaim from the blogosphere and electronic media. That same year, she collaborated on the tracks «Plunge» and «An Itch» from Fever Ray’s second album.