Zouk Singapore denies asking guest DJ to end his set early
Image: Screengrab of Zouk Singapore Facebook page
By Zul Othman
Zouk Singapore has denied asking a guest DJ to cut short his set on Saturday amid speculation that it allegedly did so to allow a son of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to take over the deck.
Egyptian guest DJ Fadi (Fila), one half of trance duo Aly & Fila who was scheduled to play at Zouk that night, has lambasted the clubbing institution for the alleged snub.
In response to Yahoo Singapore’s queries, Zouk’s head of marketing and events Sofie Chandra said “pertaining to Aly & Fila’s gig at Zouk on Saturday night, Zouk would like to clarify that DJ Fadi (Fila) was not at any point of time asked to end his set prematurely before the contracted set end time of 330am”.
In a viral video supposedly recorded during Fadi’s set, the DJ claimed that he was told to cut short his set to make way for “the son of a prime minister”.
A number of club goers claimed that Mohd Norashman, the 25-year-old son of Najib and his second wife Rosmah Mansor, was at the event. Zouk did not say if he was present at the club.
In the video, which was uploaded on Facebook on Sunday (March 6), Fadi did not mince his words and told the crowd, “… it seems that Zouk here wants someone else to play. Not only because of that… because apparently he is the son of a prime minister.
“Thank you so much, enjoy my last track. I’ll see you somewhere in the future. Not in Zouk anymore! Because I won’t play for Zouk any f***ing more. They’ve insulted me, but I love you guys.”
The video has since been viewed over 120,000 times as of Monday night.
The “son” that Fadi was believed to be referring to was Norashman, who has remained silent on the matter. Yahoo Singapore understands that he is a fan of trance music and has played at dance music events in Kuala Lumpur.
Zouk’s Chandra said, “Zouk has constantly held our invited artists in esteem and respect their works. We understand that this incident has resulted in some discontent and disappointment but would like to give the assurance that Zouk will continue to value the importance and presence of all artists and our customers and their interests.”
Outraged fans of Aly & Fila
Fans of the DJ duo, who have been constantly voted as among the top 100 DJs by DJ Mag, have slammed Zouk. This was despite the club posting on Facebook on Sunday (6 March) to say that the incident was “a misunderstanding” and that it did not ask Fadi to end his set early in another statement on Monday.
The club wrote on Sunday “With regards to last night’s incident that happened at the end of Aly and Fila’s set, we would like to clarify that it was all over a misunderstanding.
“We respect all our artists and make it a point to ensure that all artists are able to complete their sets without interference.”
A Wenvi Hidayat said in response to Zouk’s latest post, “You messed with the wrong DJ, Zouk. Fadi is very well respected in the industry and has a huge fan base around the world.”
A Henry Soh commented, “…u said Fadi was not at any point of time asked to end his set but we all witnessed that wasn’t true! We were all there!”
The controversy came several months after an announcement that Zouk had been acquired by cruise and resorts company Genting Hong Kong. The club will leave its Jiak Kim Street premises and move into Clarke Quay by the third quarter of 2016.
