Saeed & Palash

Since 1999 the Washington, D.C.-based pair Saeed & Palash have maintained a steady presence behind the decks. Operating in the city’s underground house circuit, they followed the trajectory established by Deep Dish and Danny Tenaglia. Saeed Younan, who arrived in the United States from Iraq at age thirteen, crossed paths with Palash Ahmed at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1994; Ahmed’s own family had relocated from Bangladesh when he was eight. Shared musical interests quickly bonded the two, prompting them to adopt the name Saeed & Palash. An earlier connection—Deep Dish’s Sharam Tayebi had attended high school with Ahmed—smoothed their entry into the local club network, while Danny Tenaglia’s early endorsement proved decisive: he placed their first single, “After Dark,” on a DJ Magazine mix. Subsequent studio work for Celeda, Kylie Minogue, John Digweed, and Marc Romboy elevated the duo internationally. Live dates followed at Twilo and Vinyl in New York, Sona in Montreal, Release in San Francisco, and the Homelands festival in England. In 2002 they issued the two-disc collection Saeed & Palash: Tide: Edit: 07 on Star 69.