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alaawritesablog · 11 months

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Songs Of My Life: Bill Bragin

Bill Bragin is a man with many experiences both in the USA and the UAE. As you read ahead, you will see moments of realisation and learning throughout his life.

THE JOKER - STEVE MILLER BAND

“The Joker was the first 45 I've ever bought. It was probably the first record I bought as a child. I was probably 6 or 7 years old when I bought it, I got my allowance money and my parents let me pick out one record. It's a sort of blues rock song and the lyrics have fairly simple rhymes. In the time leading up to this interview, I have relistened to my playlist a lot and one thing I realised is how many of these songs had adult themes that I couldn’t pick up on until I was way older. Steve Miller was someone who listened to a lot of old-school blues so some of the lyrics he used are blues imagery. For example, “I really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree”. So Steve Miller was my first vision of rock and, sort of, the first time I got to choose my own songs”

CRAZY HORSES - THE OSMONDS

“So, The Joker by Steve Miller Band has this slide guitar part that sort of reminds me of an excited little kid and I realised that a similar guitar part was in the song Crazy Horses by The Osmonds. So, The Osmonds were sort of like an early boy band. They were a Mormon family band from Utah, and were essentially the white version of the Jackson 5. They were sort of ripping off the Jackson 5, there is this one song of theirs that sounds extremely similar to ABC. A lot of their songs were very pop or were like power ballads, but this song was very different, it’s a sort of fake heavy metal song. And when I was in college, I had a radio show and I used to play it on almost every radio show. It's a song I used to love a lot as a little kid and my first concert experience was seeing the Osmonds live with my summer camp.”

DETROIT ROCK CITY - KISS

Hard rock was a large part of my upbringing. Kiss were making a kind of glam rock, but Kiss did it with a hard rock and metal edge. They all wore different make-up and had different characters. This reminded me of David Bowie, who was also a large part of my upbringing, and his many characters. Detroit Rock City was a song that came out in their 1976 album Destroyer and was played at the first big concert I attended on my own. This song really played with my head. It was about a man trying to get to a show and then dying in a car crash on the way there, but he is the one telling the story to you. The guitar solo is still something I can sing along to, to this day.

Mustapha - Queen

The second arena show that I went to was to see Queen at Madison Square Garden for my birthday. I had my family buy me tickets to the show and the complete Queen catalogue. This was after Bohemian Rhapsody had come out. When I ask myself, why am I here in Abu Dhabi and why I listen to music that is not in English it brings me back to this song. It was probably the first time I heard a reference to Allah on a record. Freddie Mercury grew up in Zanzibar to a Persian family, so he was really connected to this region.

Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello

This song was part of my introduction to reggae. I first listened to Elvis Costello on his third album and one thing about that album was that it came with a bonus live EP. One of the songs on that EP was Watching The Detectives. The baseline of this song is reggae, and this was around the time when many of these musicians were reggae fans trying to incorporate it into their music as much as they could. Different from the lyrics of Detroit Rock City, these lyrics are more complex. They're very metaphorical so you’re not quite sure what the story is. Elvis Costello, along with David Bowie, has to be one of my favourite artists. I must have seen them in concert 30-40 times. At my Bar Mitzvah, I had a centrepiece at the kid's table that was an Elvis Costello Styrofoam sculpture. He is someone that I have since gotten to know, so he is also one of the musical idols that I know personally.

King of Rock - Run DMC

I might’ve had a few 12-inches and singles, but King of Rock was the first hip-hop album I ever bought. This album first broke me out of being so rock oriented. Even though this song is considered rap rock today, it used only to be viewed as hip-hop. In the early days of rap, they used to sample a lot of rock records. When you listen to King of Rock today, you realise that they blurred the lines between the distinction between what is rap and what is rock. This brings me back to the first song on this playlist “The Joker” by Steve Miller Band. Both of those songs have really simple rhymes, almost like nursery rhymes, and they both have lyrics that brag about how cool they are. So King of Rock is not too far off from the music I used to listen to before and it’s what made me the rap fan I am today.

Rios, Pontes e Overdrives - Chico Science & Nacao Zumbi

Chico Science and Nação Zumbi are from a small town in the northeast of Brazil called Recife. They were the leaders of a musical movement called Maguebeat. Manguebeat consisted of artists from the northeast of Brazil that took the local rhythms and combined them with metal, hip hop and other Western genres. In 1995, I brought them over to the US to perform at Central Park for SummerStage for their first show outside of Brazil. Me bringing them over to Central Park meant they gained some respect in Brazil for what they were doing. This was when I realised my career had reached the point where my choices could have that much impact. When they were in New York, we went over to this hip-hop club and they knew the words to every hip-hop classic that came on. This interaction helped me realise that while they had all the same influence I did, everything they were doing was hyper-local and could only be from the northeast of Brazil. The way they fused together the hyper-global and hyper-local changed the way I view music forever.

Ana Mashoof - The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

I was trying to find what the “Manguebeat” of the UAE is and who are the ones exploring the hyper-global and the hyper-local. I came across Noon and they were one of the first groups I came across that, to me, sounded like the UAE with three different musicians from different backgrounds. That mixture of hyper-global and hyper-local has been present in each person I bring over to The Arts Center (at NYU Abu Dhabi). They're all doing things with the same idea just within different contexts.

One of the first concerts of traditional Khaleeji music that I went to when I first came to Abu Dhabi was by a group of Bahri musicians from Kuwait, that were part of a conference at NYU Abu Dhabi, Mayouf Mejally. I got to know Ghazi Al-Mulaifi an ethnomusicologist who was studying for his PhD at the time. We went with an NYU Abu Dhabi class to visit him in Kuwait when he had his first concert with his own band, where he started to take the traditional rhythms from the diwaniya of Bahri music and mix it with jazz and that band became Boom Diwan and Ana Mashouf has, sort of, become their theme song, for me. Ghazi now lives in Abu Dhabi and teaches at the University and we’ve done a lot of different projects together like the Cuban Khaleeji Project, which this song is from.

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alaawritesablog · 1 year

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Songs of My Life: Minova

Minova is an indie-pop musician based in the UAE, born and raised in the extremely multi-cultural city of Abu Dhabi, and it's safe to say how they got to that place is an incredibly interesting story. After we recorded our podcast, I had the pleasure of having Minova explain the tracks that are important to them and helped form their musical journey.

Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

I would listen to the radio on my way to school and this would always be the song playing, I guess it reminds me of simpler times. I'd just go to school, come back and play with my toys then go to bed, wake up and do it over again the next day. I didn't have much to worry about and one of the things that stuck with me was the music that played around that time.

Listening to music was a big part of my childhood, especially with MTV being popular, and Radio One was also a big thing. They played genuinely good music at the time. this song is very catchy, and I remember singing along to it with my family, most likely during karaoke.

Riptide by Vance Joy

My school didn’t really have a music teacher, and the only time we have anything to do with music was when I brought my guitar in. Riptide was one of the songs that my class and I would sing every time I brought my ukulele or guitar in. it was just a nice environment because everybody got to bond together through music. It was especially fun to sing along to because everybody knew the lyrics.

Where’s My Love by SYML

This song was a major part of my guitar-learning journey. at first, I started with the basic chords then I went on to finger-picking. As a result, I started listening to different types of music to learn guitar parts. That’s how I came across this song, and other artists, like Hozier. I fell in love with the melodies and the style of guitar playing. I spent a lot of my childhood learning and expanding on my hobbies and interests like guitar and music in general.

Everything about this song from the atmosphere to the lyrics to the melody to the fingerpicking pattern is so beautiful, and it inspired me to learn how to make this type of music, music from the indie genre. I have some unreleased music that I wrote to try to emulate this sound.

The songs in this playlist are not just about my life, but they also represent my musical journey as that is a large portion of my life. I like to stay at home and learn new things in music so I don’t have many experiences in music outside of my house.

Jealous by Labrinth

Learning the guitar evolved into wanting to learn the piano. Jealous is such a beautiful song about a beautiful topic, and the way Labrinth sings on top of the piano parts just made me crave playing the piano again. Before I learned chords, before I learned anything else, I learned how to play the beginning of this song.

Where Did I Go? by Jorja Smith

After going through my piano phase, I started listening to a bunch of different songs from different genres and that's how I found Jorja Smith and just… wow. The first song of hers that I listen to was On My Mind, and after that, I dove headfirst into her music and her albums. I found Where Did I Go? and it blew my mind. everything from her voice to the atmosphere of her music just amazed me. I was just astonished at the sound she was able to create and the creativity behind it, along with her other tracks. This song got me to start listening to other R&B artists such as Mahalia, Daniel Caesar & Frank Ocean.

Dræm Girl by No Vacation

After listening to R&B-type music for a while, I got back into indie, but this time the music was a little bit different and it's more on the indie/bedroom pop side of things. This was when I started figuring out the sound I wanted to do. i started playing major 7ths, major 9ths and other jazz chords. I also started getting more into indie by listening to artists like Men I Trust and Clairo and all of those indie artists.

Rings by Pinegrove

I usually associated the use of major chords with pop music, but Pinegrove amazed me with their ability to create such an indie sound without using jazz chords. I didn't think it was possible before coming across more music like theirs. They've had such a huge influence on my music. They manage to create such a balance between all of the different sounds they explore and keep it feeling so indie. A big reason why I love Pinegrove, and really all indie music, regardless of how well it was mixed and mastered, is that it doesn’t have to be that way for it to be considered good. People like it not because of the quality of the recording, but because of the quality of the music itself.

The French Library by Franz Gordon

At this point in my life, I started getting back into Piano, and as a result, I got more into modern classical music. The French library is a dark piano theme and the reason why I fell in love with it is that the feeling it gives me is indescribable. as soon as I listen to it for the first time I fell in love in a way that I cannot explain.

Colpevole by Nicola Arigliano

As I’m currently learning Italian, I wanted to indulge myself in the Italian language. A great way to do that is by immersion. I chose the method of listening to music and one of the Italian artists I stumbled across was Nicola. This song's production and quality are immaculate, but the thing that hooked me the most about this song in this artist, in particular, is how much he reminded me of an Italian Frank Sinatra. His voice’s smoothness feels like butter but what makes this song, in particular, great for learning Italian is how I can understand every single word he says.

Burning Hour by Jadu Heart

Now we go back to indie! The artist I collaborated with for my earlier songs, Yajin, was the one that introduced me to this band. A lot of their music inspired the way that he produces and makes music. When he asked me to collaborate on sanity, I immediately fell in love with the sound and vibe of the track, which was very inspired by Jadu Heart. Jadu Heart, and Yajin, are so incredibly talented.

Logiche by Altea & specchiopaura

As I mentioned before, I am still learning Italian. I found out about this artist by trying to find the same music that I listen to in English, but in Italian, I found Altea and her track Logiche. The energy and the vocals match the atmosphere and production so extremely well. Her music is so similar to that of Jadu Heart and this song is actually my favourite at the moment.

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alaawritesablog · 1 year

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Seeing Red - Mjeezy (Review)

This EP by Mjeezy was released on February 3rd 2023 and it's an exciting release from out of the UAE. I only know Mjeezy as a producer so this is my first listen to a project where he raps. There are many rappers in the UAE and he sets himself apart from them with his accolades. But this EP is an example of perfectly acceptable rap music. With Hip-Hop being the extremely large genre that it is, we see more and more people engaging with it. Some are truly great and some are… just fine.

This EP starts with a grand intro that sets everything up nicely despite the “choir” creating some dissonance against the instrumental at times. The first full song on here is one with okay lyrics and questionable mixing. I can hear that they’ve attempted to do some spatial stuff but it backfires hard. The mixing is abrasive, awkward, and headache-inducing. The second track is a significant improvement from the last in almost every way. The lyrics are still extremely basic and surface level, but the flow on this obviously shows he has some experience in rapping and takes it quite seriously.

The last track is the most interesting one mostly because it is very confusing. It feels like I'm missing something because he’s all of a sudden British? In the first two songs, he is rapping in an American-sounding accent but in this song, he suddenly uses a really thick British accent and a lot of British slang. Although he doesn't make any stylistic switches, the accent change caught me off guard. It's such a rapid switch that doesn't make any sense and the best excuse I can give is maybe it's some sort of alter ego? Mjeezy is still finding himself artistically and this is a show of effort. He explores various subgenres in rap, but he still manages to do this attempt at experimentation with a fair bit of safe-ness. He explores a variety of different subgenres within hip-hop but he experiments within what is safe artistically.

Overall, this EP is one with good moments and bad ones. The production on this album is consistently decent, except for the mixing, but everything else about this is just average. This EP flip-flops between a variety of different Hip-Hop sounds and it does none expertly. It’s a great representation of most rap to come out of the UAE. It always seems like these artists are so afraid to go outside the box and take influences from weird/unusual places. one thing the UAE music scene lacks is variety and I don't want everyone to do the same thing.

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alaawritesablog · 1 year

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Odyssey - NOON (Review)

There’s usually very little western inspired music that comes out of the UAE that I enjoy. There could be a wide variety of reasons why that is happening, but this album from dubai-based trio “Noon” was a very enjoyable experience for me from top to bottom. I found them on Instagram in March 2022 while I was looking for more local artists to support and was immediately intrigued by their bio: “an experimental music project from Dubai comprising elements of traditional middle eastern music with polyrhythmic Jazz/rock”. I checked out their Spotify and was immediately disappointed to find they had only released two songs at that point.

I scoured their socials to find any news on a possible album release… nothing. Nothing but a vague “album coming soon”. So, I gave up. I moved my focus to other artists, local and not, and occasionally checked up on them. Until a week ago, I hadn't even known they had finally gone through with releasing the record they had been promising for months. No roll-out, no pre-release singles, no real promo, nothing. So, here I am 2 months late to review this album.

This record starts off with a song that sets the tone. It includes most, if not all, the elements you see throughout this LP. One of the many notable things is that they use a drum kit for percussion instead of traditional percussion like most Arab fusion stuff tends to. It’s choices like these that are what makes this album fascinating and really shows off their technical skills.

My favourite song on here is Hybridge pt.1, most of this LP uses the oud as the main instrument, so the vocals on here are a breath of fresh air. The singing on this is so amazing and the little moments where the oud comes in perfectly balanced and doesn't overpower the vocals. The melodies the oud is playing complement the vocal melodies so well. This track was such an immersive experience, I didn't notice it was 8 minutes long when I first heard it. They are a fusion band that combines many different cultures and genres that I've never heard combined quite like this. As I mentioned before, they use a drum kit instead of traditional percussion throughout this whole LP, and the expert drumming is one major factor of what makes this work. The oud melodies are really beautiful and, in the more rock inspired moments on this record, they have a way of making me forget it’s an oud, like on the song Walks on Nawa. And the production on this entire album is sublime.

But, there is one main problem that presents itself multiple times throughout the album. This album has many different things going on, and one tool they use to combine them is a switch up. A switch up is a sudden switch between two musical ideas. Sometimes they pull these off. Other times they either switch up too fast, cutting the previous idea too short, or they don't switch up fast enough and let a melody or idea go on for too long and become repetitive.

A great example is the switch up in the opening track “Longa Nahawand”, the song starts off calm and slow and then builds to a great track with a phenomenal balance of rock and traditional Arab music elements. My main problem is that they switch back to a slower, more stripped down song. I, personally, didn't enjoy this switch very much. It throws off the momentum and really ruins everything the earlier half of this song was building to. And these types of switches are prevalent all throughout this album, and many times it's so awkward it stops the experience from being as enjoyable. The only way I can think to describe it is that it feels like an unfinished plate of food being taken from me while I was enjoying it. They don’t always let the ideas they start finish. And there are many instances of this on the record that I will not be listing.

All in all, this LP was an interesting experience for me, top to bottom, and while it’s not my favourite and it has its pros and cons, It is by far the most promising thing I have heard from a debut record from the UAE. I always love supporting small artists worldwide and I will never not stop to check something out, and a lot of the time it is incredibly rewarding. Noon have been teasing this album for months and I believe they largely delivered on their promises. I am incredibly excited for what is to come.

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