STAMINA

ELIAS MERHEB (a.k.a. STAMINA) was born on March 21st 1980, in Beirut, Lebanon. He was raised in a family of artists:his father Alain Merheb was a famous singer and a professional dancer; his mother a professional dancer as well; his uncleRomeo Lahoud, head of the internationally known Romeo Lahoud Dance Troup, and the list goes on. Thus, it was only natural that Elias does what he seemed predestined to do: MUSIC.He became interested in Electronic Music at the age of 16, after listening to “Distance To Goa,Vol 1” and Later on toGlobal Underground and Nubreed albums. He began listening to Drum n’ Bass and Tech House after attending the notorious “FreeParties” in Paris during the late 90’s.Elias has been spinning for 6 years. He started Djing under the name “The Gemini” (aptly named for his abilities to playboth musical genre, Drum n’ Bass & Tech House), spinning on Vinyls before moving to CD’s. His first gig was in Glasgow at aDrum n’ Bass event. The Gemini Years from 2000 to 2002 where the Drum n’ Bass/Tech House years. He was introduced to Psychedelic Trance at a psytrance party in London, and has been an ardent member of the scene eversince. After Studying Audio Engineering at SAE (School of audio engineering) Glasgow and Electronic Music Production at SAEParis, Elias moved to Montreal where he began the 2nd phase of his musical career. The Gemini was dead but STAMINA was born. He was playing extensively at Psy parties Throughout Scotland, Canada (Montreal, Quebec City), France (Paris), and of courseLebanon. Currently he is the only active psytrance DJ in Lebanon. Some describe his style and sets as “Full On Psychedelic”and claim “his kick ass on the dance floor”.He is also renowned for co-founding BUG SYSTEM (Beirut Underground), a musical project with KAA (Laurent Jreijiri) andNandi (Joe Tawk) both based in Paris.In July 2005, Stamina started working with Gunther under the project Gunther & Stamina. They were launched by a series ofAfter-hours @ Orange Mechanic (OM), Beirut, Lebanon with Tag Events, DJs G! & Special K; where all four Djs rocked Beiruttill 12:00 a.m every Saturday & Sunday of every week, writing history into Beirut’s underground nights and breaking a recordin the middle east by performing 12 hours sets.Gunther & Stamina are famous for their long sets (sometimes up to eight hours) every Saturday @b018, Beirut, Lebanon(www.b018.com) where they hold a residency every week Thursday, Friday & Saturday as main act. His long sets among with his partner Stamina are blended with the latest underground music from minimal, deep House,progressive, tribal, tech-house and techno. All sets are mixed harmonically. (www.harmonic-mixing.com)They hold as well a week-end star residency on Mix fm the official number one station in the middle-east (www.mixfm.com.lb)every Friday from 20:00 till 21:00 (Underground sessions is the name of the show).They performed with international artists, mainly during the Bacardi & Mix FM events.Stamina warmed up Big Al, Anthony Pappa, , opened for Dean Coleman & Deep Dish. Closed for Nick Warren, Big Al, Danny Howells, Michel De Hey, Desyn Massiello, John Digweed, Jimmy Van M, Fred Numf, HishamSamawi, Jan Carbon, Steve Lawler, Tall Paul, Armin Van Buren, Anthony Pappa, Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten and Carl Cox Biggest event performed was with Stamina closing for Carl Cox at Biel, Lebanon, May 6th 2006. Around 5000 ppl attended thegig.Further into the today’s time fruitful connection, is the great friendship tie with Big Al (www.readymixrecords.com) whosupported & keeps on supporting G & S as well as the rest of the underground scene in the Middle East.Over the past 7 years Stamina has been an avid supporter of the UNDERGROUND and has been pushing for its expansionthroughout the Electronic scene in Lebanon.