The Story of GIO-z: From Damascus to Montreal

Damascus — Where It All Began

I was born on July 30, 1985, in Damascus — one of the oldest cities on earth.
A city that hums. The call to prayer from a hundred minarets at dawn.
Water flowing through ancient stone courtyards.

My father, Dr. Joseph Zeitoun, was a church historian and a cantor.
Every Sunday his voice filled the stone walls of an Orthodox church; every night, he chanted in my ear to put me to sleep.
These ancient Byzantine chants—modal and hypnotic—became the operating system of my musical mind.

“Music was never entertainment.
It was the language we used to feel things.”

The Child Who Heard Everything

At nine years old, someone handed me a cassette — Cheb Khaled’s Didi. Something clicked.
It was the collision: Western rhythm meets Eastern Arabic melody.

Music doesn’t have to choose between worlds.
It can be all worlds at once.

At eleven, I joined the scouting band at the Church of the Holy Cross.
No sheet music. Just sound. I learned call-and-response, eventually being trusted with the improvised solos.
By sixteen, I moved to the trombone;
learning to hear music from the bottom up, the foundation of a producer’s ear.

I remember climbing the sofa, then the bookshelf, just to reach the cassette deck on the high shelf.
Even then, I was climbing things to get to the music.
George Zeitoun

The Decision That Built Everything

At eighteen, I gave my father an ultimatum: I wanted to be a DJ. He refused. I left home with nothing but a dream.
It lasted three days before he called me home, saying,
“Work wherever you want.”

On March 13, 2003, I performed my first live DJ show. The journey had officially begun.

Defend your goal ferociously.
Choose your passion no matter what it costs.
Only then will you achieve what you want.
George Zeitoun

The Nomadic DJ

From Damascus to Doha, I built a career behind the consoles of Al Jazeera, Sama TV, and Virgin Radio.

Feel The Groove

In 2012, with Syria at war, I moved to Beirut. A city where survival is written into the nightlife.

I spent seven years there, releasing my first remix in 2016: Naskha Mennek. Even in the international electronic scene, my first professional words were in Arabic.

Building z-Tone — With My Own Hands

In July 2019, I landed in Montreal with one year of survival money and No Plan B.
After graduating from Musitechnic in 2023, I decided to build my own sanctuary.

I taught myself woodworking and acoustic physics.

I recycled pallet wood into professional-grade treatment.

While Montreal celebrated the holidays, I worked. No days off. No weekends.