I’ve featured a lot of talented Kuwaiti musicians on the blog from the likes of Faisal Al-Salem who’s a lead singer for a very popular Japanese thrash metal band and Naser Al-Marzouq, the young and blind Kuwaiti piano player. Mubarak Al Rashed is another Kuwait musician who I think is also really talented.
I found out about Mubarak a few days ago when a reader emailed me telling me about him. Mubarak is a cop by day and an extremely talented Hindi singer by night. It’s a pretty strange combination but if you watch him sing in the video above you’ll see how great is. There are even more videos of him singing [Here]
I also found this old cached Kuwait Times article which has a bit more information on Mubarak and how he got into Hindi music. You can check that article [Here]
I’ve posted bout Kuwaiti singer Aishya before but back when she used to perform with her sister Sharifa. Well Sharifa has stopped singing but Aishya is still chasing her dream in the States. Aishya now has a page up on ReverbNation with a bunch of her songs so check them out, she’s got an incredible voice. [Link]
Local label Mouse Music have launched a remix competition for the track Little Girl by tamtam with $750 as the prize.
To enter the Competition and create a remix, go to the Competition’s Folder Page, download the Official Competition Rules and the available Track Samples’ folder at: https://bit.ly/WQI99z
Judging & Prizes Submitted remixes will be reviewed by the sponsor for eligibility and posted on Zahed Sultan’s Facebook Page https://on.fb.me/dZSjMo, where fans will be able to vote for their three favorites for a limited voting period. After voting closes, Zahed Sultan will pick one Grand Prize winner and two Runners‐Up from among the fan favorites.
One Grand Prize Winner will: • Receive US $750 (Seven Hundred and Fifty United States Dollars only) in cash
• Have their Remix released on the official “tamtam – Little Girl Remixes EP” (alongside Runners-Up) under the Mouse Music record label
Two Runners-Up will: • Have their Remix released on the official “tamtam – Little Girl Remixes EP” under the Mouse Music record label
Important Competition Dates • Download track parts; create and submit a remix: Jan. 21st 2013 to Feb. 24th 2013.
• Voting by fans: March 1st 2013 until March 15th 2013.
• Grand prize and runners-up announcement: March 15th 2013.
About The Artist tamtam is a young lyricist and singer of mixed heritage. tamtam draws upon personal experiences to tell passionate and relatable stories for listeners, while leaving her songs open to interpretation. tamtam has been most influenced by Michael Jackson’s showmanship when performing live. Onstage, tamtam truly comes into-her-own.
Dance Like Nobody’s Watching is a cool concept that has been floating on YouTube for awhile now. The idea is you go to a public place, put on your headphones and then dance as if you’re at home alone while recording yourself doing it. After posting a video on 248PM last week called “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching: Airport“, I decided I wanted to do one as well. And I did. I headed to Souk Mubarkiya, found a cool spot and then recorded myself dancing to a song. It was hilarious and a lot of fun since no one around me knew what the hell was going on since they couldn’t hear any music and all they saw was some random white guy dancing in the middle of the road.
This was supposed to be just a quick test because I wanted to see if I had the balls to actually do it but a short clip got leaked out (complicated story) and somehow it ended up on YouTube which you can watch above. Since this was just a trial video I’m not planning to upload the full version online but the second one should be better and that one I’ll definitely upload onto YouTube myself. [YouTube]
TJCfilms just uploaded a new music video, this time it’s a live performance by Big D, O-Zone, Hera and DJ Africa at the Southern Smoke Show that was held here in Kuwait. [YouTube]
This is another music video that was emailed to me but this one has a very interesting story behind it. A dear friend of Feras the musician was diagnosed with breast cancer and was given very little to no chance of survival. The song “Won’t Let You Go” takes the listener through Feras’s experience since he wrote and composed the song to illustrate how to deal with such situations. The overall message is to stay strong, keep the faith, and never let go. Feras’s friend who’s survival chances were so thin ended up being cured and she went back to her everyday life continuing to inspire.
Feras Abushaar is 17 years old and is currently a senior at Al Bayan Bilingual School. The song is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes with all proceeds from all his sales (100%) will go directly to (Hayat Cancer Organization). No profits will be made from the project. [YouTube]
A super talented friend of mine just released a new single called Tara Aadi. It’s very cool since the music is made up of 8-bit sounds generated from a GameBoy. Here’s some interesting trivia regarding Tara Aadi:
1. All the sounds in the music played was generated by a real Gameboy console
2. The melody was conceived in Kuwait, but arranged in Bad Soden, Germany
3. The vocals were recorded at the Arabic Theater HQ, one of the main founders of Kuwait’s performance art scene
4. Besides collaborating with Hussa Alhumaidhi on the melody, Mishari was responsible for every aspect of its production
5. Mishari mixed the song in Aziz’s car on the way to get treated in Hadi Hospital. Mishari resumed to mix the song in Hadi’s parking lot in his PJ’s and a robe.
6. The song was made with the intention of getting people to smile, preferably while dancing.
You can check out the song by hitting play above or you can check out his other songs on [SoundCloud]
tamtam is a young talent that was mentored and produced by local musician Zahed Sultan. Her first single is Little Girl which you can watch the music video above. Once tamtam’s video reaches 10,000 views she’ll be selecting one lucky winner for a very special prize. I have no idea what the prize is but if you want to be the lucky winner you will have to comment and like the video on [YouTube]
Last month I posted the song but they now have an official music video for Arabs in Paris which is a Ni**as in Paris Remix by brothers “Sons Of Yusuf”. [YouTube]
The main reason I went to Japan was for the Electraglide music event which turned out to be so worth the trip. The event was held in two huge halls with a third larger hall between them that served as a refreshment area with picnic tables all around. There were 15 acts playing there that night with the event starting at 9PM and finishing by 6AM. There were always 2 acts playing at the same time so people spent a lot of time flip flopping between the 2 halls which was actually pretty fun to do.
My favorite acts that night had to be Orbital, Squarepusher and Flying Lotus. Once we were done from the event we headed straight to the Tsukiji fish market for some fresh sushi for breakfast which worked out perfect since I don’t think I would have been able to wake up that early any other day. I took a lot of pictures that night but I’m just gonna share some of my favorite ones I had up on Instagram which you can see below. Oh and I’m back.
FADER, a US based music-culture-fashion publication has an interview with Kuwaiti music composer Fatima Al Qadiri who’s currently based out of New York. I hadn’t heard of Fatima until just a few moments ago so I found all this pretty interesting. Her latest EP is titled Desert Strike and is inspired from the classic Sega Genesis game with the same name. The full story behind the album as well as samples of her song are on FADER which you can check out [Here]
Thanks Marko
Update: A reader reminded me that I do know her but I just didn’t recognize her. I posted about her last year and the post generated a lot of hate. [Link]
