Last month, during Eid El Adha, Dahab witnessed the second edition of the extraordinary music festival, Chill O’posite. The festival is organized by a Jordanian team called NextUs, cooperating with the Egyptian Crew, Rushzone! Upon the epic success of the festival, we sat down with the Founder of RushZone, Abdelrahman Mahmoud, to talk about the great weekend in Sinai!
What’s your professional background?
I studied Communication Engineering, but since I started college I have worked in several different fields, until I discovered my true passion; the entertainment business.
How did RushZone come to life?
It all started three years ago when five of my childhood friends and I were planning for a music festival in Nuwiebaa. We had everything set up from killer line-ups to the most exclusive venues. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to life due to lack of funds; as the investors and the sponsors thought that it was a risky decision to fund a festival in Sinai because of the strict rules and regulations applied there. We were forced to put our dream on hold and instead of establishing our own festival we decided that it would be a better idea to provide management services for other events. And that’s how RushZone came to life!
How did you reach the decision to switch from Engineering to Event Management?
As i mentioned above, I found my passion working in the entertainment business. I started working as early as the age of 18 in all different types of events all over Egypt from Luxor to Dahab. When you work in entertainment, you get to provide people with a service they really need to help them survive in their daily routine. Music, dancing and meeting new people are essential in life. We all need to communicate better and music is the simplest and most efficient of communication and connection.
How did you become the crew manager of Chill O’posite festival?
A year ago I bumped into a Facebook post by Chill O’posite reaching out to musicians to send promos of their music. Knowing my best friend Shero, who also happens to be one of the Co-founders of RushZone, is a DJ I immediately encouraged him to send his music. He did that and he ended up being chosen to perform at Chill O’posite’s first edition in 2017. During the festival, he met the Jordanian team responsible for the event and the main man himself, Yazeed Karadsheh, Founder of Chill O’Posite. A year later, Yazeed was looking to form a crew for Chill O’posite’s second edition in 2018. Contacts were exchanged, and I ended up meeting with him. We talked, we saw eye-to-eye and that’s when it all started.
If you’d book an international act for one of your events for 20k$, who would it be?
Tame impala, Monolink, FKJ and Tash Sultana!
What are your future plans with Rush Zone?
To keep connecting people through music and nature, and eventually throw our very own festival.
What are the challenges that face the Event Management field in Egypt?
The biggest challenge is implementing new ideas. Investors and sponsors got used to certain venues and certain music which to them is a low risk move, but there is always a new thing around the corner that they don’t want to take a risk for.
What was your favorite thing about Chill O’posite?
My absolute favorite thing about Chill O’Posite was the never-ending good vibes everywhere. There was around 1200 attendees from more than 10 different countries, including even locals who live in Sinai and my own crew from Cairo. I will never forget this overwhelming energy of everyone connecting together. I can definitely say everyone left Sinai with a lot of new friends that they might or might not meet again, but it’s still very satisfying knowing that they engraved good memories in each other’s hearts that will live with them forever.
