Mili is Connecting Cultures Through Afro House

Mili is on a mission.

The Iranian producer-DJ, who is based in Toronto, has been DJing for over 16 years but began releasing his original Afro house tracks two years ago. He sees the genre as a gateway for global styles like Arabic and African music to reach the rest of the world, including Western audiences who are less accustomed to them.

“They’re not really familiar with those sounds and they can't really understand it,” he explains. “With Afro house, it [became] easier to combine these cultural music elements from different sides of the world and then put it in music.”

In May, Mili released his viral single “El Youm El Helw Dah” with DJ HABIBEATS which boasts over 450,000 streams on Spotify. The track is an Afro house remix of a popular song by Egyptian singer Ahmed Saad, who is also a featured artist on the track. Mili first played a demo of the song at a show with HABIBEATS, who liked it and asked for a copy. HABIBEATS then played it at a show of his own and uploaded a clip of the moment online, which went viral.

“That’s when we realized there was something there,” Mili says. “We went back, worked on the track together, and started trying to clear the sample. It took almost two years, but eventually Ahmed Saad heard it, liked it, and wanted to officially be part of it. That really brought the project to a new level. It wasn’t something we planned, but it ended up being one of the most meaningful releases I’ve been a part of.”

“El Youm” picked up steam on TikTok, soundtracking numerous videos with over five million views each. Mili is proud of the song’s organic resonance with its audience online, which he describes as exciting and motivating.

Unity between cultures is not only a key part of Mili’s sound, but also his collaborative process, as he believes music has the power to transcend cultures and bring people together.

“El Youm” is just one example: Mili is Iranian, HABIBEATS is Palestinian and Ahmed Saad (who is sampled) is Egyptian. Mili is also currently working on a Kurdish track with DiMO (BG), a Bulgarian producer.

“When people from different cultures work together, they’re not just mixing sounds. They’re bringing different experiences, backgrounds and emotions to the table. That creates something new that people can feel,” he explains.

Mili wants to continue highlighting different regional sounds like Kurdish, Turkish and Middle Eastern music by incorporating them into the Afro house and electronic space. He is digging into disco and classical house influences as well, while drawing from his background in Afro house, tribal house and Afro tech.

He’s always looking for ways to introduce new grooves and percussion to keep the sounds from stagnating. He has more tracks ready to go soon, which he says will show people the new directions he’s moving in.

“I’m not limiting myself,” he says. “I just follow what feels good and keep pushing my sound forward.”

Mili recently played A Night on Lake Como, an exclusive fashion show at Blue Bovine at NXNE in partnership with Billboard Canada.