Graham Sahara on Nearly Three Decades in Ibiza, Pacha Residencies and the Island’s Wildest Stories

In this episode of Loud & Unfiltered, part of our Inside Ibiza S3 series, we sit down with Graham Sahara - multi-award-winning DJ, producer and Founder of Sahara Music Group - for a conversation packed with two decades' worth of anecdotes from the heart of the island's club scene. Graham landed in Ibiza in 1997, having just turned 20, not speaking a word of Spanish and knowing next to nothing about the island. As he puts it, it just sounded like a sensible idea at the time. What followed was one of the most enduring careers on the White Isle - a residency at the legendary Pacha Ibiza that began around the turn of the millennium, alongside sets at KM5 Bar Lounge and virtually every major venue on the island. We talk about what Ibiza was really like back then - hedonism on another level, where you could be on the dancefloor with a junkie to your left and a Saudi prince to your right, and nobody batted an eyelid. Graham is full of stories from those years, and this episode doesn't hold back. Beyond the decks, Graham has built a career as a genre-defying selector, moving effortlessly between deep, soulful house, tech house, techno and Balearic rhythms - work that's earned him Best Ibiza DJ at the Ibiza DJ Awards in 2017 and the same title from the Ibiza Clubbing Guide. He's released and remixed for labels like Ministry of Sound, Hed Kandi, Armada Music and Spinnin' Records, and today runs Sahara Music Group, a label services operation behind some of the scene's biggest underground and crossover acts, alongside A&R and management work across imprints including Seamless Recordings, Electric Ibiza and Electronic Nature. We get into how Ibiza has changed since the late '90s, what's stayed the same, and why Graham - one of the island's biggest and most likeable characters - has never wanted to leave. Subscribe to Loud & Unfiltered for more unfiltered conversations with music industry leaders, innovators and cultural entrepreneurs, and connect with us on Instagram @loudandunfilteredpod