Omri Smadar

Based in Tel Aviv, Omri Smadar has built a career since the mid-2000s that intersects academic training and club culture. Born in 1982 and raised on a kibbutz in Israel, he began with classical piano and jazz before studying classical composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music. A trip to Jamaica in 2005 proved a turning point: Smadar turned to DJing and co-founded Abuya Sound, a reggae and dancehall sound system with which he performed for several years in Israel, Europe and Jamaica. From 2011 he refocused on electronic music under the alias Libra Discotheque, producing edits of rare disco tracks and pieces from Middle Eastern repertoires. In 2014 he released "Muzika Salim" on Ostra Discos, the first official milestone in his discography. Since then his work has moved between DJ sets, production, composition and live performances, in a club-oriented electronic aesthetic that blends repetitive grooves, disco heritage, oriental textures and a rhythmic sensibility drawn from reggae. Still based in Tel Aviv, he has also played venues such as The Block and Bootleg.