Ouissam – Bassiani Podcast 216 Tracklist
French Born Ouissam Mokretar was always drawn to Asia, making a home in Hong Kong before finally settling in Hanoi back in 2016. The logic was to find a space that allowed for him to create without the stressors of highly saturated music hubs and their exorbitant rents. His Midas touch transformed a corner of Hong Kong first, moving the goal posts of accepted nightlife culture from the get-go with his founding of record imprints Cliché, and the beloved Homesick and Fragrant Harbour, pushing a custom blend of disco, house and techno that’s made ripples across the city since. He cultivated the fertile soil of Vietnam’s capital next, with new venue Savage (its second iteration taking over the premises of the ex-Angolan embassy), constituent vinyl pit-stop Pond Records and its monthly queer night Snug, as well as local music festival Equation. Single handedly fostering a young community of music lovers is an impressive achievement, and Ouissam makes it look both easy and fun. His sound meanders through poppier house, synth to boogie, Italo to Cantopop. Korean disco, Japanese funk and the sounds of the Phrygian Scale borrowed from a little farther west – an ongoing love letter to his chosen continent. Bassiani Podcast 216 is a colourful blend of feel-good tunes cut from his set at Horoom back in March. Expansive and libertine, his hedonistic sound is a pure joy to dance to, a magnetic energy that’s surely played no small part in building his world as he has.
