A benefit for Anthony "Shake" Shakir happened at Tangent Gallery on March 1, 2025. The room was packed. The lineup was a Detroit techno reunion on short notice.
Shakir is one of the founding-era Detroit producers, a contemporary of the Belleville Three whose contribution to the sound is often less visible than it should be. He also lives with multiple sclerosis, and the expenses that come with that condition do not shrink over time. The benefit was organized by the local community to help cover medical and living costs.
Claude Young played. Daniel Bell played. DJ Stingray 313 played. Eddie Fowlkes played. Ectomorph played. The lineup read like a Who's Who of people who learned the music from Shakir directly or learned it from the generation that did. Nobody was there on a fee. Everyone was there because Shake matters.
DJ Mag's Ben Murphy wrote a longer piece around the benefit that made the case for Shakir's catalog as essential Detroit listening. The benefit itself raised significant funds, though the exact figure was not published. The night functioned, in the meantime, as one more example of a Detroit scene that organizes its own mutual aid when a founding-era producer needs it.
Shakir's catalog is available through Rush Hour and Frictional Recordings.
