From the desert heat of his country of origin to the
winter rigours of Canada, Sultan has travelled a road in his image - out of
the ordinary. After living in Kuwait, Cyprus and Egypt, Sultan moved to
Montreal, Canada in 1996 to pursue an education in Mechanical Engineering
and Business. Inspired by the vitality of the nightlife and his passion for
music, he quickly immersed himself into the house scene of his adoptive
city. Little by little, his interest for structures irrepressibly shifted
from engineering to music.
In 1999, he purchased his first turntables together with the firm intention
of standing out in a jungle of DJs. From the start, his approach was quite
different as it was influenced by the multiple cultures assimilated in his
native countries.While the Montreal scene had ears only for techno-accented
house, Sultan became the most prominent representative of a style whose
local popularity remained embryonic - tribal/progressive house. This
notwithstanding, he held tight to his convictions and slowly made his mark
as the instigative force behind the house/progressive movement of the
Montreal scene.
In 2000, his reputation took root in solid ground when Montreal’s Mix 96
radio station assigned him the 12-3 a.m. slot every Sunday night. And In
July that same year, Sultan became the weekly Level resident at club Living
opening and playing alongside such DJs as Deep Dish, Sander Kleinenberg,
Danny Howells, Saeed and Palash, Nick Warren, Lee Burridge and many more.
In the wake of his DJ successes, and after graduating from university,
Sultan created his own studio in the summer of 2001 in order to unleash his
talent as a producer. Once again, the results were tremendous. His
first-ever production, "Primal Instinct” was signed to Chug Records that
same year and garnered much appraise. The door had opened and with great
enthusiasm Sultan quickly established himself as one of the most innovative
and respectable producers in the electronic scene with releases on various
labels - including Deep Dish’s Yoshitoshi label and John Digweed's Bedrock
Breaks Label. Sultan now has more than 40 titles under his belt including
releases under the aliases of Soul Tan and Jiva (Sultan and Ned Shepard) as
well as collaborations with Tone Depth(The Greek) and TommyBoy.
In 2003, international recognition became imminent whereas four of Sultan’s
productions (including a remix) were featured on Global Underground 25:
Toronto compilation mixed by Deep Dish, which made its way to number one on
the Billboard Dance Album Charts. And in 2004 Sultan began to make his mark
on the international music scene playing over thirty international tour
dates across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa while maintaining a
solid consistency in his productions and remixes.
2005 has seen Sultan rise to the next level with highlights including a
showcase at the Miami Winter Music Conference playing after Tiesto at Space,
the release of several remixes including Deep Dish vs Dire Straits “Flashing
for Money” which appears on Deep Dish's latest artist album "George Is On",
the release of several Sultan originals on world renown compilations
including Tiesto’s “In Search of Sunrise 4” and Behrouz's Rennaissance
"Frontiers", and the completion of Sultan's debut compilation alongside MV
"Release Records The Sessions 001" due out in stores early 2006.
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