Big Room EDM is a main staple for festivals, anywhere you go. Heck, if you don't have a Big Room stage at your festival, where else are you going to have it? And if you're having a stage for the subgenre, you should have Garmiani at the top of the list. If he's getting support from Aoki, Hardwell, Afrojack, Knife Party, Major Lazer, and A-Trak, we figured he's a safe bet. But if you're hesitant because you don't trust anything you can't pronounce, just take a listen to his music as you follow his career from a war torn home country to traveling the world with some of the biggest artists.
Born Jiar Garmiani, the future globe trekker was born and raised in Kurdistan until the age of 6. His family eventually moved to Sweden after their house was levelled by a bomb. Around this time, he was already playing the Darbuka (a tall goblet shaped drum) while his dad was on the setar and Kurdish saz. While he doesn't remember much of his motherland, he does remember the tough transition to the new culture: "The cultural differences are big and it took a long time to fully understand the Swedish traditions, culture, and social codes." But the initial hardship eventually presented itself as an opportunity to become a more global citizen and in turn, musician: "I'm really glad I have this diverse background though, it gives me a much better understanding of the world and it's easier for me to accept people's differences and also easier for me to see that we’re essentially all the same."
Even being a Kurdish native living in Sweden, Garmiani couldn't escape the wave of Hip-Hop that was taking over the world's youth: "I don't remember the first song I liked, but the first albums I fell in love were Dr Dre's The Chronic and Snoop's Doggystyle. Then I heard Tupac (best rapper of all time) and it was a wrap!" Then at age 12, he had saved up enough money to buy his own mixer. The mixer had only solidified his position of "DJ" among his friends:
"I sat next to the stereo and picked songs one by one at every kid’s party when I was like 6-11. When I bought my first DJ mixer at 12 and there was some type of school party or youth party it was pretty obvious to everybody who would be the DJ. It was natural."
But then one video shifted his interest from the four pillars of Hip-Hop to the electronic world of Dance music. That video was Prodigy's dark and fast paced "No Good" video. His early interest in Big Beat/Trance music drew him towards Armand Van Helden and later on, the Swedish House Mafia. Meanwhile, Garmiani was teaching himself, slowly, how to properly work his DJ equipment by "pressing all the buttons." With not much more than stone cold determination (he hadn't held a 9-5 position yet in his life), Garmiani was eventually discovered and was off to the races with creating more Electronic music.
One of his more recent monstrous creations is "Jump & Sweat." It features Dancehall singer Sanjin and his signature textured synths that could blow a hole in your wall. Garmiani and Sanjin had actually gone to high school together so the collaboration came naturally. The musically talented producer and DJ had a full concept for the vocals in his mind, directing Sanjin and recording the track in a short period of time. This track, along with several of his others (his remix of Swedish House Mafia's "One" and "Nomad") are prime examples of the unique quality to his production. Not only does he create booming samples that an electronic trumpet from another planet in the future sounds like, he also mixes in elements of either his home country or another one that make the song feel more organic and believable. On "Nomad," you would think you're walking in the sands of Kurdistan alongside Garmiani before the drop kicks in. On "Jump & Sweat," it wouldn't be strange to assume that Garmiani grew up in Jamaica as he captures those island vibes with cheerful melodies and percussion lines.
Being surrounded by music most of his life, Garmiani is very hands on with his production, sometimes even laying down vocals himself. His favorite part of creating a new song? "When I'm just playing the piano looking for good melodies and finding something good. I can sit there and just play a loop for 20 minutes and enjoy the shit out of it. The purest form of making music, before any production is involved." But he has a slight handicap during this initial step since he was in an accident at 14 which almost killed him and left his left hand forever damaged. As a result, he can't play full chords on the piano nor the guitar. But that's the least of his worries along with setting new trends in EDM: "I've heard tracks that are inspired by my music and I think it's flattering. If I had set a new trend, it’d be an accomplishment. I'd just have to come up with a new sound."
And we may be closer than you think to hearing a new sound from Garmiani, albeit it would be released under a different alias: "There is this House sound that I'm really into right now. It's groovy and funky as hell, with melodic basslines. I've been making some of that stuff and it sounds really good, but it's not the Garmiani sound. I'm not ruling out the possibility of starting a new alias for that though, so the world might hear it some day." We're sure that if it ever hits the internet or the nearest festival stage, it will get the most amount of dancing from the fans. Something you're more likely to witness at the next Garmiani show is someone getting pantsed. He's posted a few Instagram videos of various people dropping trou at the hands of another person and he described that if he could pants one person, it'd be George W. Bush at a G-20 meeting while playing the Benny Hill theme song in the speakers. Besides potentially pulling off one of the greatest pantsing of all time, he hopes that he gives the people "memorable music and memorable nights… giving people positive vibes."
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Might be Pulp Fiction.
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?When I was very young, I think it might have been dudes like Q-Bert. Later on when I went from Hip-Hop to House I liked DJ Chuckie because he also went from Hip-Hop to House and he played at events like Sensation. That was inspiring to me.
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?DJ equipment not working properly. If something goes wrong at a show I want the reason to be me fucking up, not a broken mixer, slow CDJ, or delay in the monitors.
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?Two Pioneer CDJ 2000’s and a DJM 900 Mixer.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?That's like asking a parent which one of their kids is their favorite. It can't be done!
Keep up with Garmiani on his website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.
Bryan Hahn has nightmares of being pantsed at the G-20 Summit meeting. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.