Hunee: The Fearless German-Korean Selector Following a Hunch

Cover Image by Hannah Burton 

The first time I saw Hunee playing live was last May at the Sandbox Festival in El Gouna, Red Sea, where he made his Egypt debut with a sparkling unprecedented set of skewed house and disco. It was way past midnight, around 2 AM, and though everyone had been partying since early noon, he managed to command the attention of every single person there, pulling a whole spectrum of moves on the dancefloor of the Sandbox stage with a kind of effortless flair that I had never seen before.

In an industry where most DJs tend to play it safe on big stages, sticking to the music that would get hands in the air, Hunee stands out as a fearless risk taker who never compromises his diverse selections, whether he is playing an intimate club night or a massive festival stage. He’s gutsy enough with a super eclectic taste to play classic tunes as well as adventurous records.

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Born in Bochum, a former industrial town in West Germany, with a South Korean heritage, Hun Choi (AKA Hunee) found in music a practice to turn a lot of the otherness he felt growing up into something interesting and beautiful. His famous sets are as colourful as his personality and quite unpredictable, spanning continents and eras as a byproduct of his deep crates and sensitive research-based approach to dance music. His sounds dabble in a little bit of everything, from deep house and disco to vintage italo, electro and techno, all pulled from his personal record collection.

One of his most iconic moments came in 2017 during his Dekmatel b2b closing set alongside Antal, which he never pre-planned, yet the night produced viral videos in its wake, cementing him as a crowd favourite and one of the most likeable characters globally. His immense inspiration and wholly unique taste are personified in releases like ‘Rare Happiness’ and ‘Amo’, as well as a string of productions featured under esteemed record labels like ‘Rush Hour’.

Ahead of his gig at Boogie Box’s 15-year anniversary festival on the sandy shores of Al Fujairah Island in Abu Dhabi on November 2nd, we caught up with Hunee in a virtual sitdown, where he shares how it all started, his tips for digging, as well as how he finds the energy in the MENA region and his advice for budding DJs looking to carve their own path in the industry.

Image by Janine Kuehn 

You’ve often mentioned that music has been a part of your life since a young age. Was there a particular moment or influence that pushed you to pursue DJing full-time?

I finished university and I was hungry to get out into the “real world,” “real world” meaning record shops and nightclubs. But, it probably took me a decade of DJing full-time until I realised that I had apparently become a “full-time DJ.”

Your sound is incredibly diverse. How has your sound evolved since your early releases, and are there any pivotal moments or records that shaped your musical direction?

I have always loved many different genres from all over the world. I am also endlessly fascinated by the relationship between two records from seemingly different times and contexts, and how they can come together.

In my early days in Berlin, I was fortunate to have had older DJs showing me the work of DJs like David Mancuso (The Loft), Danielle Baldelli (Cosmic Sound), and Mark Seven (Juswax). Their sensitive approach to and researching of music, and how one can program and combine records, inspires me to this day. Back then, I spent hours marinating in the very active online world of forums such as djhistory.com, mixes archived at deephousepage.com, and other specialist archives, collecting old recordings and mixtapes from forgotten eras of DJing.

At one point, you were close to quitting DJing altogether. Can you share more about what brought you to that point and what eventually pulled you back into the scene?

Being a full-time touring DJ can be an all-consuming way to spend your time. But, there is also an ever-present desire in me to explore other ways of engaging with the world. Once I thought it was time to call it quits and fully dive into what I kept calling “my second life” which goes beyond DJing. I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. 12 months later, I moved back to start my actual second life, as a DJ.

Image by Christian Marinopiccoli

You grew up in Bochum, a quiet industrial town, and have South Korean heritage. How have these two distinct cultural influences shaped your musical identity? And, do they still play a role in your sound today?

These experiences formed the basis of seeing myself ‘outside’ of things or never part of the norm, but also freed me from having to be a part of the norm. I was naturally drawn to arts and culture with this disposition. In music, I found a practice that made it possible to turn a lot of this “otherness” into something interesting and maybe, sometimes, even beautiful.

Your sets span continents and eras. When selecting tracks for a set, what’s your creative process? Is it driven by intuition or is there a narrative you try to convey to the crowd?

I usually have a few “North Star” tracks that I want to get to within a set and which map out the territory. The rest is all improvisation and intuition. I try to be relaxed and playful but keep a sense of narrative and drama intact, so the set feels like a journey and not just a sequence of tracks.

What’s your approach to reading a room, and how do you keep your sets authentic while engaging different audiences?

Hmm, this is tricky. I am very fortunate to have a pretty diverse range of gigs throughout the year; from intimate all-nighters in a dark club with 200 people to big festival-stage closings with thousands of people in front of me. I try to be aware of where I am, what is needed, and what it takes to get this thing to flow and breathe.

Of course, I know what music gets the hands in the air but that is not always the music I find inspiring, and it’s challenging at times for certain audiences as well as myself. I might take it slow and clear spots on the dance floor or just sense confusion in the crowd. It doesn’t always work, but if it does, it is magical because it really unlocks something within people.

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How do you find the energy in the MENA region compared to European or Western crowds? Does the local culture influence your setlist in these regions?

While I have not been there super often, the times I did I can say that the energy was very warm and uplifting. I always try to pay tribute to where I am through parts of my selections.

With such a busy global schedule, do you have any pre-gig rituals or routines that help you centre yourself and get into the right mindset before a set?

I always bring along a travel yoga mat. So, I do a few sun salutations, a disco nap - with a really nice sleeping mask - and, if times allow it, a shower can do wonders to reset my energy after a long day of travelling. Also, I obsessively listen to music from my USB stick pre-gig because it sometimes helps me to get familiar with new tracks, but sometimes it’s also just a compulsive obsession that clutters the mind.

Of all the festivals and gigs you’ve played till now, is there one performance that stands out as particularly meaningful or transformative for you? And, what made it special?

There are many incredible experiences and memories I’ve had so far. If I should pick one, it would be the 2017 Dekmantel closing together with Antal. That was a big “before-and-after” moment.

We never plan or discuss our back-to-backs and I remember we talked about the closing a few weeks before it happened. Antal asked me if we should talk about the closing set, and I said “Well, we got here by never planning or discussing our back-to-backs, so maybe we should just do it how we’ve always done it.”

Usually, I play the first track and from then on it’s just back and forth. And, it was actually a thrill to get on the big stage and play all these tracks we loved for a long time and see a huge crowd dance to a lot of music that has never been played on such a big festival stage before.

For budding DJs looking to carve their own path in the industry, what advice would you give them?

Be you fearlessly. Be yourself, and don’t be afraid to show it. There is real confidence in knowing who you are and why you do what you do.

Top three tracks you're digging at the moment.

Noema - Soleil Soleil (Magic Jams Extended Club Remix)

Trinidadian Deep - Moments of Sounds (Cee ElAssad Remix)

Man With No Name - From Within