Hamdan Al-Abri, Dia Hassan, Clarita de Quiroz. The roll call reads like the beginning of a who’s who on the UAE’s home-grown music scene.
These are among the names featured on Made in Dubai, a new compilation album proudly showcasing local talent, "presented by" DJ Bliss.
Naturally, only a man with a both a contacts book and a sense of ambition the size of DJ Bliss’s could make it happen. A veteran club DJ, TV and radio presenter and all-round UAE personality, the Emirati decksmith first hatched the idea of a local compilation five years ago.
But rather than taking existing tracks, each of the artists were invited in to record at Bliss Inc studio with in-house producer Prince Q at the helm.
Bliss himself takes just one song credit, as co-author of opener Everything About You.
“I wanted to help local artists, to show what we can do, that it can be done, and we should all work together to make it happen,” says the 34-year-old, whose real name is Marwan Parham Al Awadhi. As such, it’s an eclectic project strafing from Bliss’s hip-hop and R&B roots into electro, pop, dubstep and even piano-led ballads. But if one thing ties this audio pick ’n’ mix together it’s the beats, every track marked by a head-nodding rhythm. Bliss made his name in the clubs, after all.
Despite conflicting advice from friends and insiders, the name was one thing that was not negotiable – like Bliss himself, this record would be Made in Dubai.
“It was a crazy idea, but it was a risk I wanted to take,” he says. “I’m from here and I want to look back years later and say: ‘I did this project’.”
Here, the man himself talks us through some of the key collaborations on the album.
Abri and Mike Classic: No Regrets
As the former frontman of UAE bestsellers Abri, and an omnipresent force on the UAE live scene currently leading Abri & Funk Radius, Hamdan Al-Abri is a man who needs little introduction. Here the Emirati’s distinctive voice rises over slow-burning urban beats and a twinkly piano riff, propelled by an anthemic, life-affirming chorus refrain.
"I've known Abri since I was 16," says Bliss. "We played in a band together as kids. He's really the first person I went to with this project. We recorded No Regrets in a couple of days – some songs just sound magical."
With a guest rap from upcoming NYC rapper Mike Classic, the album’s first single was born.
Dia Hassan: Stand Down
Juliana Down frontman Hassan already stepped out of his comfort zone with last year's dance-flavoured solo debut What Is Love?. Here he throws another curveball with this dubstep-influenced track. A fragile, windswept electro-pop verse gives way to an epic breakdown of throbbing bass warbles. Not what you'd expect from a typical rocker.
“I haven’t known Dia long, but we started hanging out and I knew he was thinking of a solo project,” says Bliss. “The good thing about Dia is he’s very experimental. And he’s got a great voice – when you hear it, you know it’s him, which is very important in the music industry.”
N1yah: Let Them Know
Young Lebanese rhymesmith N1yah caused waves with 2013's My Name Is N1yah mixtape – and Bliss was not the only one listening. Here she raps maturely over Prince Q's moody, minimal R&B beats, which come peppered with a catchy flamenco guitar loop that leaves swathes of space left to showcase this rising star's formidable vocal chops.
“We worked with her for a long time and this was a tune we recorded right away,” says Bliss. “She was very honest with it, talking about her family situation – she did a great job on a hard song.”
Clarita de Quiroz, Moe P, Solitair: To Be Better
Scottish singer-songwriter Clarita de Quiroz released her excellent debut album Speak. Delete. Repeat last year. But here she was reduced to a hired hand, singing the key vocal on this slow-burner, which begins as a fragile ballad before building to a cinematic, phone-waving climax. The experience wasn't without problems. "When we asked her to be part of the song it was a little bit difficult," says Bliss. "Because she's a talented piano player, singer and songwriter, and we were asking her to sing a certain part of a song over a piano part she was very critical of."
The track is rounded out with vocal contributions from Bliss’s brother Moe P and Canadian rapper Solitair, who Bliss met when working with mutual collaborator Kardinal Offishall. “I wanted a rap that wasn’t about cars and girls,” says Bliss.
DJ Bliss and Ayzee: Everything About You
Otherwise known as Hamza Hawsawi, Saudi R&B singer Ayzee is now a household name after winning last year's The X-factor Middle East, building on earlier TV fame on Arabs Got Talent. But Bliss spotted the potential early, inviting him to guest on this upbeat, radio-friendly urban banger, which opens the album, driven by a dirty electro riff and propelled by assured vocal harmonies. "He's really, really big right now – but this was recorded three years ago, before he'd even left Saudi Arabia. It was his first time out of the country, a super-excited young kid – it's a completely different situation for him now."
• Made in Dubai is available on iTunes and in Virgin Megastores
rgarratt@thenational.ae
