I was born 1997 in Cairo, Egypt of all places. Born to a Peruvian mother and English father, none of whom had a love for jungle. Their club days were full of Motown and disco records of the 70s and 80s, not the acid and happy hardcore raves of the 90s. Inevitably, this made the chances of me becoming a jungle fan quite slim. Had it not been for one fateful day, I may never have clicked with the genre. This has only been a recent realisation, but a realisation nonetheless.

I was browsing someone’s Instagram story when I saw she had posted a recent Nitin Sawhney’s song. “Nitin Sawhney … why does that name seem familiar to me?” I wondered. I clicked on the link, scrolling through his previous works. There it was, the album artwork for Prophesy shone out to me like a beacon. I browsed the album knowing I had heard some of these songs before.

The first track Sunset was undoubtably a song I’d heard before. It was so unique, there was no mistaking it for any other. The whole production on the album had really been ground-breaking not only at the time, but to me as a listener all those years ago. Acquired Dreams had the famous jungle breakbeat echoing off in the background of the track. There it was. That was the memory. Looking out of the car window all the way back in 2001. It was early in the morning so I watched the streetlights zoom by, one-by-one, as the beauty of Acquired Dreams played as the soundtrack. There was my first taste of a jazz and jungle inflected electronic music and I loved it. As I would only have been about 4- or 5-year-old at the time, this moment faded from my mind but had obviously left a huge impression.

Fast forward to when I’m 14 years old and I’ve just returned to electronic music. This time in the form of Dutch producer Netsky. He was huge at the time with songs like Everyday, Come Alive and Rio . However the song that I’d constantly have on repeat was Eyes Closed. This was my commercial Drum and Bass phase that I did hugely enjoy, but I remember wanting more. The music all sounded too produced and there was this grit missing. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it at the time, and I wasn’t sure where or what to look for either. I was in a bit of strange place musically then because I was switching between this niche Metal genre called Djent at the time. This form of music provided me with that guttural need, the one that makes you scrunch up your face like when you hear a ‘dirty drop’ or when an MC gets a wheel up at a Grime rave. A universal bodily reaction that the music was providing, which in a way is all that matters. Soon after came my Mac Miller stage, this led me into Rap, Hip Hop and Grime during my college days but that’s a whole other story.

I went off to Bristol for University and came across a bunch of people talking about Drum and Bass. One of my first nights as a fresher was a Free Night in Motion, there was a drum and bass room but it didn’t really click with me. I was more absorbed by this Pimp looking figure that had these 3 girls dancing around him in a way I’d never seen before. As soon as arrived that night I was buying a round of four jaeger bombs for me and my mates, which at Motion is just not really an acceptable move. Any adult in the know, would just order an overpriced of lukewarm Somersby and be happy for the night. Luckily a lot of learning was done throughout my Bristol days, and cider drinking for that matter!

Come second year of Uni, it’s around September 2016 and I’m on the bike at Pure Gym, looking out the window onto Bristol Harbourside. I had been building up my Soundcloud since hearing DJ Barely Legal’s Mix Mag set on YouTube. I didn’t know about shazam back then so had to use google’s voice search to try and recognise this song. It took a few tries but after a while, Ramadanman – Don’t Change for me came up. Bingo, my first triumph. That was a pivotal moment for me because I having not found a download link, I eventually created a Soundcloud account. From there on, I began my research into various DJ sets and resultingly, a whole new world of music.

That day at the gym, I came across a liquid Drum and Bass radio call Night Grooves. I was sifting through the various mixes they’d uploaded, when I came across this one song that was featured on LTJ Bukem’s Logical Progression – continuous Mix. I can’t remember the exact name of the song but once I heard that mix, it was game over. I had finally found the sound I had been searching for. It had taken 5 years, but I had found it! I must have listened to it non-stop for two months, always returning to it throughout the rest of my days at university. That will forever be my favourite mix and still listen to it now.

This led me onto exploring LTJ Bukem’s era of Drum and Bass, which I would later to go on to find out was actually jungle. The 90s was the pinnacle of jungle, with people like Peshay, Source Direct and Photek all producing these beautifully ambient and other worldly tracks. The sound took me back to my childhood days of playing this side-scrolling sub-marine game on windows ’99. I remember being on a trip in New Zealand and my dad lending me his laptop so I could play that and the infamously pre-installed Pin Ball. Simpler times! The jungle sound had grabbed hold of me that one car journey all those years ago and had clearly never let go of me.

I delved quite heavily into Techno during second year and then French/Tech house during third year of university, so put Jungle on the backburner. Having said that, I did manage to convince my housemates to go to a LTJ Bukem night in third year and it being one of the best events ever. The crowd were all older, so they were truly there for the music. They had lived out their youthful days listening to Jungle in the golden era of the 90s, so unwittingly had beautiful associations with the music like I did. I remember these three guys in their late 30’s who were next to me throughout the entirety of the night, and we’d occasionally look over at each other with the same facial expression. Music can provide these truly personal moments where for an instant, you feel so close to someone you know nothing about.

A not-so-fun memory was missing Makoto’s set in the Doghouse as I had the worst case of tonsilitis in my life. He came over from Japan for his UK tour so shd I not been suffering enormously; I might have even convinced myself to go. To this day, that’s one of those nights that I’ll always kick myself over. The Lenzman remix of his song Golden Girl featuring MC Conrad is one of those great tracks that always help me escape no matter where I am. I told this girl once that I’d have this song playing at my funeral to which she replied, “Do you want your parent’s popping pills and holding up gun fingers as they lower you into the ground or something?”. That image did give me room for thought but I still think it’s a must for the funeral playlist.

Come summer 2018 and I had finished University. Having a lot more free time I thought, “why not try and find some more great jungle tracks to add to my Soundcloud”. In hindsight I probably should have been looking for some appropriate graduate jobs but in all fairness, some of my best reposted tunes are from that summer.

Fast forward to today and I haven’t really listened to Jungle all that much. Having been living in Manchester since halfway through 2019, it was hard for me to find the right venues for such nights out. Not having any knowledge about the night life, I could no longer scroll my Facebook to browse for upcoming events. I find it takes at least two years to understand a city, that process definitely sped up if you get about by bicycle or if you run. Lockdown came about and obviously that was another block in the road. That period didn’t really have me longing for nights out if I’m honest. It was a more introspective period but one that I resulted with me finding Wize Edits, so I am grateful for that.

The only ‘Jungle moment’ I’ve had since moving to Manchester is back in September of last year. We were out for my friend’s birthday with all her mates and ended up in the basement of Soup Kitchen. With it being the first time I had been there; I wasn’t sure what to expect. Walking down the stairs I noticed there was a weird donk or psytrance vibe going on, which I wasn’t too pleased about. There was a real assortment of characters who were all doing their own thing which I did find odd, not having been on the night out scene since pre-lockdown. It was jarring but after a while I managed to warm up. Luckily for me, 30 minutes later the set switched up completely into a heavily stripped-back jungle breakbeat. The set got even better as it delved into this ambient and intelligent type of jungle where the piano chords were being held and built upon. With the classic drums going off in the background, I was finally getting that old feeling again. Stood directly in front of this speaker that was taller than me, I fully embraced that moment as much as I could (and the classic Eggtek Rave Aesthetic). Losing years off being able to listen into my old age, I didn’t care because that old jungle sense was back and I wasn’t getting in the way of it.

Jungle’s one of those genres quite unlike any other. The drums are always there to prohibit your body from staying still. The jazzy piano samples, build up of piano chords or even spacey keyboard sounds are what transport you somewhere else. When I listen to jungle, I feel like there’s a want for unity. I love listening to jungle by myself, don’t get me wrong, but I’d much rather listen to it with a group of other people who are all there for the same reason. One thing for sure though, when I’m back in Manchester, I look forward to capturing that feeling on a night out again.

If this is your first time hearing about Jungle, I beg you just click on some of those links and truly explore the genre’s uniqueness.