The storm had already claimed the lives of at least two people in China's Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines
Mashgool is the Arabic version of my dear song Busy, Busy which has been getting a great response since its release last year. Some of my Arab friends wanted to hear an Arabic version of the song. I've been living in this region for a while now and I've always loved how Arabic songs sound and the language is so artistic; I wanted to do something in Arabic even though I couldn't speak the language. But I believe music has no language. So, we can sing in a language that's not our own.
It's been released on Bollywood music network 9XM's label, SpotlampE and is available on all 9XM channels.
Hassan is one of the most popular Emirati singers and we are celebrating the Year of Tolerance as well so it made sense to come together. Also living in this country for a while now I realise I owe a lot to the country and I wanted to have an Emirati singer on board to be part of the journey. I know many Arab musicians here; I came across Hassan and he was very excited to be part of it, and it just happened.
It's actually my second time singing in Arabic, but my first time singing one of my original songs in Arabic.
The lyricist is Emirati and a very dear friend of mine, Maha Al Tayer. It was pretty easy for her to pen the lyrics for me and it took a bit of training for me to sing, I needed the right diction, but I was so passionate about it so I had to do it. For me passion is everything.
Yes absolutely, you need a story board and there are a lot of other things involved. Of course you could always have someone singing on stage and film that as a video - kind of impromptu - but this video (for Mashgool) had a storyboard, and we wanted to showcase Arabic culture as well while not missing out on the essence of the song. We wanted to blend the two. It took about a month to shoot.
I think I'm quite blessed in that I always enjoyed being on screen. I call myself a performer, not just a singer. Like the pop icons of the 90s - I visualise and just do it my way.
I feel videos are important to keep people hooked to songs. Of course for those who really love music, videos don't matter so much. But for those who are more visual, it draws them in too. It's only doing good to the song to have good visuals for it, so it gets more airplay.
I really feel very blessed to have this response to a song coming from an independent artist. I've seen many established artists who are not able to get that many views. I'm very lucky to have sung a song like Busy, Busy which was created keeping my voice in mind.
We've already started shooting for a new song that should be out in the next couple of weeks; it's very upbeat, anyone could connect to it but mostly the younger crowd, in India and abroad. I like to keep it global. For example for Mashgool, we have many nationalities involved. I didn't want to be a stereotype; I wanted to think out of the box and do music with people from different parts of the world. That's the best thing about living in Dubai.
It's been very fruitful. It took a long time to get where I am, more than 15 years. It was quite difficult but my resilience and persistence have paid off. I've always been passionate about music and I don't give up. I'm very positive about future projects also.
Favourite English track:
Addicted to Boney M right now.
Favourite Hindi track:
Babuji Dheere Chalna. I like Geeta Dutt.
If you could do a cover version:
It would be Babuji Dheere Chalna. I'm so hooked to this song.
Dream collaboration:
Amr Diab. I have his entire music collection.
Please (I'm being selfish!), I would want you to listen to my song Mashgool, it's on SpotlampE, YouTube and you can look it up on Google. Please share your comments, give it your love and help us make it more popular. Thank you!
The storm had already claimed the lives of at least two people in China's Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines
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