Seamus Haji is a UK-based record producer and DJ, born in 1968, who works in house, EDM and electronic dance music. He begins DJing at 16 with a London soundsystem, playing early house, soul and hip hop, and later builds a career across DJing, production, remixing, radio and label work.

Career

Haji secures an early residency at The Satellite and goes on to play regular guest spots at clubs and nights including MOS, Garage City, Release The Pressure, Hard Times and Back To Basics. He becomes a regular fixture at venues such as MOS, Code, Bed and Pacha in London, and also holds residencies overseas, including a long-running run at Pacha, Ibiza. His DJ sets are known for combining his own productions and remixes with technically involved mixing, and he is an official ambassador for Pioneer CDJ1000 players.

He is of Irish, Indian and Iranian descent. Alongside DJing, he works in record shops including Red Records, Release The Groove and Uptown Records, takes A&R management roles at Slip ’N’ Slide and Defected Records, and writes for music publications including Blues & Soul, Echoes, Touch and Muzik, as well as reviewing for Update. He also presents a Ministry of Sound radio show and has guest-mixed for Radio 1, Kiss 100 and Galaxy.

Releases and chart success

His best-known release under his own name is Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, a cover of the Indeep song. The track is first issued in 2004, reaches No. 69 on the UK Singles Chart, then climbs to No. 13 on reissue in March 2007 and also reaches No. 1 on the UK Dance Chart in 2007. He also remixes many other artists, with some of those versions becoming the main promoted version of the track. Among the better-known examples are Booty Luv’s Boogie 2Nite, which reaches No. 2 in the UK, plus remixes for Hardsoul, Artificial Funk, Tweet and Stonebridge.

He works with major artists including Rihanna, Moby, Mika and Emii, and often collaborates with Paul Emanuel. Together they have a UK Top 75 hit in 2005 with their version of Final Cut’s Take Me Away, featuring Bridgette Grace and based on their cover of True Faith.

Aliases and collaborative projects

Haji uses several aliases and project names for different styles of house music. Big Bang Theory presents a funkier house sound and includes releases such as God’s Child on Defected Records, followed by Do U Got Funk? and Haven’t Been Funked Enough, which gain support from DJs including Xpress2, David Morales and Danny Rampling.

Mekkah focuses on a more soulful, vocal-led direction through the Soul Love label. Its releases include Race Of Survival, Found A Love and Dimensions (I’m Happy), with fans including Louie Vega, Jazz-n-Groove and CJ Mackintosh.

11th Dimension is his darker and more futuristic collaboration with Paul Emanuel, with releases including Beat Goes On, The Force and The Rhythm. Get This! is a Go-Go and house hybrid project with releases such as Ya Underwear, Work That Sucka and Party People. Heart & Soul is another alias, debuting with Share Your Love, featuring Tommy Blaize and a remix by D Ramirez.

Labels

He sets up the Big Love label with Janet Bell, formerly head of Defected Records. Big Love is described as a label for club-focused international house, while Soul Love is his outlet for a more soulful sound.