Twenty-five-year-old DJ Odette Hayas says the music produced by the British trance music group, “Above and Beyond,” is what drove her to consider doing the same.

“In the early 1990s, I started listening to trance and electro music, and I was very much attracted to it, thanks to Above and Beyond who made me fall in love with this kind of music,” she said.

The native Syrian who is one of the Jeddah’s most well-known DJs is on demand for almost every women-only party. “You will always find me busy on weekends, as young Saudi women hire me for different occasions, from birthdays, graduations to weddings,” she said.

“It’s quite interesting and exciting to work with only women because there are not so many competitors in the DJ field in the Kingdom,” added DJ Odette.

While usually DJ jobs are tailored to men, DJ Odette fought to be the number one lady DJ in Jeddah. “Women used to hire male DJs and keep them in a separate room away from the actual party because most Saudi gatherings separate men from women. I believe that this is hard for the DJ because he doesn’t get the chance to feel the crowd, and that creates a gap in producing good music. When I started spinning, women were more relieved because they could speak to me, interact with me and even request songs if they wanted to,” she explained.

DJ Odette bought her first turntable right after she graduated from high school and started mixing in her bedroom, trying out different mixes. “I used to challenge myself to create great music, and of course, I used to make a lot of mistakes until I got it right,” she said. “I used to lock myself in my room and not leave the house for days because mixing was a hobby and a form of entertainment to me.”

She spent a lot of her time watching DJ videos on YouTube and reading interviews to learn more about this world. However, being a DJ is not what DJ Odette’s family saw her doing.

“My mother did not approve of this hobby. She used to fight with me a lot to convince me that I should do something else and work in another field,” she said. “I used to meet with my DJ friends during my vacations in Syria without my mother even knowing. I spent most of my vacations asking them questions and learning from them.”

In 2008, DJ Odette went to Amsterdam and took a DJ beginner and basic course at the Amsterdam DJ School. “I stayed there for six months and learned so much about mixing and spinning. I had the opportunity to learn from the best DJ teachers in the world. I didn’t study electronic music production, but this is going to be my next course when I go back to Amsterdam,” she said.

Electro house, house, progressive trance, melodic trance, commercial and hip-hop is what interests DJ Odette. “I have been attracted to this kind of music ever since I started deejaying. I can now say that I’m a master when it comes to electronic music because that’s what I was focusing on when practicing,” she explained. 

Her awesome neat turntable techniques are from operating updated mixers that cost her a lot of money to enables her to produce better music. “I started mixing by using my laptop. Now, I’m using a Pioneer 2000 because a DJ has to always be up-to-date with the latest equipment and tools. A DJ should also be up-to-date with the latest music and songs, because you need to know what’s in what’s out and what’s out of date,” she added.

Commenting about the reaction of many Saudis on her working as A DJ, she said: “Music is music; what we do is not different than Mohammed Abdu or Abdulmajeed Abdullah. All of us produce music and rhythm but people pick and choose who to accept and who to reject. I create melody and tunes that attract a certain kind of people. I believe that not many like the music produced by Abadi Al-Johar and not many would like mine. But I have my people who understand this kind of music and they are the people who I enjoy playing for.”

She added: “When I mix in front of my crowd, they always amaze me by the energy in the room and their love for music. I aim to keep that for as long as I can with my mixes.”

It’s very easy for DJ Odette to shine in the Kingdom because there are not so many women who share this job. “I can easily say that not all DJs in Jeddah are supposed to be called DJs. There are a bunch of women who just mix songs unprofessionally and call themselves DJs. This is where I see myself doing better because I have a certificate and the best turntable,” she added.

Music production is DJ Odette’s next step, as she wants to start by uploading her mixes online and producing her own CD. “As I said, I want to study electronic music production in my next visit to Amsterdam. I believe that any DJ can mix but not any DJ can produce music and this is what’s going to make me unique and stand out from anyone else in Saudi Arabia,” she said.