DJ MORTEN excited to perform at Soundstorm 21 in Riyadh

Danish DJ and producer MORTEN will be performing today at Soundstorm 21 - a four day festival held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

MORTEN is the year's highest new entry in DJ Mag's Top 100 and his 'Future Rave' collaboration with David Guetta is creating waves in electronic music.

We managed to catch up with MORTEN for a quick chat ahead of his gig in Riyadh.

What can fans expect from your show today at Soundstorm 21 in Riyadh?

This is my first time in the country and I’m very excited to be there and to play my music for the people of Saudi Arabia. I can’t wait to perform.

As a globally popular DJ and producer how do you keep finding innovative ways to keep your audience entertained?

I’ve released a lot of music with David Guetta, we call it Future Rave - we are very inspired by sounds from the underground, music from the early 2000s. It’s very important for us to keep being innovative and keep making interesting music.

We are not really trying to follow the direction that many other artists go in, we are trying to create our own name and stay ahead of the game.

Your collaboration with David Guetta is well known and has produced some superhit music. How has he influenced your work?

Of course David is one of the most successful artists of all time in electronic music. When you make so many big songs, it’s not just luck, you are very talented and that’s what David is.

He’s one of the most amazing guys as far as writing music is concerned. I work with him and learn from him, so he influenced me a lot, especially the way he works with pop music and bringing that into electronic music. It’s very inspiring.

You and David also remixed a popular hit by the late, great Avicii. What kind of musical legacy has Avicii left behind, you think?

Avicii is maybe one of the biggest electronic artists in the world and he’s maybe one of the best composers of the last 100 years in my opinion. I love his music and his melodies. So, his legacy is incredibly big - he’s loved all over the world and I am a huge fan. He’s a great, great legend.

Covid affected all live performances around the world. What was this time like for you and how did you spend it? Are you happy that live music is coming back?

I’ve been very productive - together with David Guetta I’ve released 16 songs, so we spent a lot of time making music, we really didn’t take any time off.

We spent a lot of time on our online presence, keeping the fans engaged, doing a lot of livestreams and radio shows and stuff like that.

It feels amazing to be back on stage and especially coming to Saudi Arabia and giving music to the people - I am very excited about this.

From all the countries and gigs you have played which is the most memorable for you and why?

I played all over the world and I am from Denmark so to come back to Denmark and play a show means a lot to me.

But also it’s very nice to perform here in the Middle East - I’ve played in different places in the ME before and people were very excited - I loved this very much.

You started your DJing career from your home country of Denmark. How has this journey of music been for you since then and what is your philosophy of music now?

I started in Denmark and I was mostly a local artist for the first 10 years of my career. Then I got into trading music as a more universal language and I started to collaborate with international artists and not just Danish artists.

I wanted my music to be heard all over the world. And now that I collaborate a lot with David Guetta, my music has a more international language. I am hoping for my music to be heard by even more people. I want to spread out my passion even more.

My philosophy is to create something unique and something that inspires people and makes them dance, and makes them happy!

• Saudi Arabia