Born and raised in Tunis, studied in Paris, established his career in music and architecture in Dubai and now based in Los Angeles, Aeli is a Record Producer, Dj and Sound Engineer. His style includes Hip-Hop, Future Beats, Afrobeats with traces of North African traditional music.

Aeli’s particular combination began in Tunisia. Trained in Jazz guitar, Classical piano, and Rock drums. While still in high school, Aeli performed as a guitarist at Fusion Festival in Germany with his Experimental Punk band.

It was in France that Aeli started to explore music production. He completed the Urban Music Certificate at the SAE Institute in Paris as well as obtaining a Masters Degree in Architecture from l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris La Villette. He successfully passed his final exam by presenting a project and theses on musical multi-use facilities.

Aeli’s first body of work is “Palimpsest” in which he collaborated with rappers. Once in Dubai, Aeli released his instrumental project “Late Future Calls” followed by “Late Future Calls Remixed”, a remixed version of the EP by artists such as Daedelus. «Zoetrope» translates Aeli’s identity and path, creating an autobiographical project. He worked on several singles such as “CPT”, his most success- ful song to date, with Ka$h CPT (Where he sampled traditional chanting from a tribe that is relevant to the rapper) as well as “Gemini”. Both are collaborations initiated by Red Bull Music.

“Dubai-based beat producer Aeli dropped his astounding debut album, Late Future Calls, an eight- track collection of futuristic rap and trap bangers heavily influenced by the sounds of North Africa and the Middle East.” Complex UK

As DJ, Aeli has toured internationally in UAE, France, Tunisia, Turkey, Czech Republic, the Philippines, South Africa, Bahrain and USA. In the past years, he shared the stage with eminent artists such as Joey Bada$$, Earl Sweatshirt, Soulection’s Joe Kay, Jarreau Vandal, The Whooligan, as well as Y2K and Ekali.

After a wave of recognition, Aeli was invited to perform at Red Bull Music Academy Weekender and Sole DXB, consecutively for five years. He also took part at the RBMA Bass Camp. He was a guest for a mix in Red Bull Radio. While in Dubai, he contributed to the development of the Beats scene in the Middle East.

Aeli was selected by Leo Burnett to be the sound consultant for their most ambitious project: A 2000 people immersive experience in Prague where he designed everything music, including a giant Sound Installation and worked with artists such as Poetic Kinetics and Bompas & Parr. The installation was in a high ceiling tent, in the midst of noisy and crowded surroundings. The space provided a calm and meditative escape creating an environment with an underwater-feel soundscapes, lights and seatings. (Please refer to the selection of work).

Aeli served as PUMA’s ambassador and provided a Middle Eastern sounding music for the PUMA RS-O Sound campaign. His music was used for campaigns for Jordan and Yasmina (Luxury fashion platform) in addition to DJing for fashion runways, all these companies solicit him for his signature sound. He composed the original soundtrack for a short film, “Forthcoming”, by the Emirati director Aiham AlSubaihi. In March 2019, Aeli led a music production workshop and talk for Today At Apple in Dubai. Aeli was commissioned to produce events at The Edition and Renaissance Hotels.

In parallel to this, he worked as an architect and interior designer in some of the most prestigious award winning firms in Dubai and contributed to planning and designing stages for Sole DXB music festival.

After six years in Dubai, Aeli took a step further in his career by moving to Los Angeles in 2019. Since, he has been producing for major artists like Lil Wayne, Sevyn Streeter, Sada Baby, BLXST, Cailin Russo and NFL player Darren Waller. On top of mixing and mastering for artists such as Reggie Couz.

Aeli is active in the Los Angeles scene as DJ and event producer, as well as being a regular touring performer in New York. He got the attention of museums such as Rubin Museum NY and Hammer Museum LA where he performed for Andrea Bowers opening event. They selected him for his internationally diverse and culturally charged music that translates some of her main focus subjects: immigration rights.

Aeli had his music cosigned by renowned artists. The Gaslamp Killer regularly plays “Guasba Lik”. Habibi Funk played Aeli’s track “Habibi”, featuring Soulection’s Jarreau Vandal, in his set at Boiler Room Beirut.

To forge his musical identity and pay homage to his roots and folklore, Aeli works on expanding his knowledge of the Tunisian spicy culture and integrates it into his work.

Discography