21/03/2016
Taha Elroubi (one half of T.Kolai / A&R and was also a partner in Vinylicious Recordings and Ashara Music in the USA. Born to a Sudanese father and Persian mother he was introduced to the world of soul, funk, reggae and the african sounds from a record collection that his father bought him at the age of 13 while living in Sudan.
Through that collection he got introduced to the likes of Weather Report, Grover Washington Jr., the Temptations, The Jackson Five, Bob Marley, Shirley Bassey, Stevie Wonder, Brass Construction, Earth, Wind & Fire and the list continues. By age 15 he moved to Cairo to attend the American School in Ma’adi and would then travel to London every summer where he spent a couple of months vacationing with his family .
During this period he started to discover the underground sound by listening to the various pirate stations and Capitol Radio. He then started hitting record stores such as Blue Bird Records, Record Shack in Soho, Unity Records, Flying Records in Kensington, Catch A Groove with Ricky Morrison in the house, now it’s Chillifunk’s home base, Black Market, Vinyl Solution @ Portabello Market and of course the dopest reggae store at Ladbroke Grove (the front line).
In 1985 he moved to the United States to attend the American University in Washington D.C. It was then that he decided to get a couple of SL1200’s and try to express his vibe and on occasional weekends he would travel to NYC to see listen to the likes of Tony Humphries, Frankie Knuckles and David Morales.
In 1987 he got offered a one-night gig at Washington’s best venue at the time, The Fifth Column. At the end of that night he was offered a residency, which lasted until 1991, when he then graduated with a BA in Finance, and moved back to the Sudan to join his family’s business.
This kept Taha out of the music loop until 1997 when he returned to the United States once again, this time with his wife and daughter. In 1998 he was contacted by a couple of friends from university, Karim Masri and Kareem Sabbagh and the three of them started Vinylicious Recordings. Inexperienced in the field of running a label the company got off to a rocky start from an experience point of view but all the releases have been top notch. A catalogue to be proud of until today.
Farid Nouri, the owner of the highly acclaimed underground spot called RED gave Taha an opportunity to get back in the Dj'ing world by offering him a spot with Aou from M.U. Express at RED on Friday nights. It was there that Taha met Doug Smith & Richard Payton from 95 North who later on released a wonderful vocal featuring Heather Rose titled Unbelievable with Frankie Feliciano remixes.
Soon after Taha was approached by Fabio Beggiato, a successful Swiss Italian young man, owner of the hippest Italian restaurant in D.C., Sesto Senso, he offered Taha to be the resident DJ and music director of his upcoming club/lounge. In September, 1998 Andalu opened its doors to become Washington’s deepest and most soulful lounge/club.
In June 2000, Taha joined forces with Nicolas Laget who is part of Nicolicious Productions (Vinylicious Recordings artists). Both being brought up in Africa, they shared a common love for the organic sounds and live percussions, string arrangements, sultry vocals and deep grooves meshed with all their past musical backgrounds and experiences. They found themselves in perfect music harmony and the duo known as T.Kolai was formed.
Their first project entitled N.Kosi was picked up by Ibadan and is now featured on Chillifunk’s "True Spirit 2" Compilation among a group of top-notch producers. Their second project entitled "Exodus" gained the attention of Jerome Sydenham from the respectable Ibadan Recordings while he was visiting Taha in Washington. It was signed to Ibadan a week later and achieved huge success in Japan, and made it on the play lists of the one and only David Mancusso from The infamous LOFT, Dimitri from Paris, Alex from Tokyo, Yoshi from Flower Records and MKL from Spiritual Life. The third project by T.Kolai entitled "One Another" is a deep track with the vocals by Mustafa, a track that has been caned by Danny Krivit, Dr. Bob Jones, Alan Russel from Black Vinyl, Deli G. on Galaxy, Jeremy Newall and all top soulful Dj's the scene.
In 2001 Club Five was carving it's name as Washington D.C's premiere underground music club. Taha Elroubi was offered the Saturday night residency and hosted some of the best dj's in the world of House Music including Louie Vega, Antonio Ocasio, Joe Claussell, Dimitri from Paris, Timmy Regisford, Matthias Heilbronn, Osunlade, Oji Morris, Brian Pope, Ultra Naté, Thomas Davis, Teddy Douglas, Sam Burns, Marques Wyatt, Jask, Donny Burlin, Lisa Moody, Karizma,Dj DJ Spen, Alex from Tokyo, Lil Louis, Dj Marv, Mr. V, Dj Mandrill, Phil Asher, Basil Thomas, Mike La Birt, Eddie Amador, The Soul Providers, Tony Fashaw, Jemal Countess, Miguel Migs, DrBob Jones, Jerome Sydenham, James David Graham, Dennis Perez, Rich Medina, Adrian Loving, Steve Gamboa, Chi Chi, and the list can go on.
Taha is now living in Sudan and he is the brain behind Capital Radio 91.6fm, Sudan's first all english music radio station. Having the radio station gave him the ability to promote a positive image of Sudan and he has turned Capital 91.6fm in to the leading radio station among the youth and expatriate community.
More about Taha & T’Kolai:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/5422-TKolai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNfBU9FTjzA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCik9NqwLGk
https://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=1036
https://pro.beatport.com/artist/t-kolai/13469
https://www.traxsource.com/artist/2197/t-kolai
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/t.kolai/id81656650
http://www.discogs.com/artist/5422-TKolai Managing Director at Capital Radio 91.6 fm, Khartoum, Sudan.
