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Graffiti artists, rappers, breakers and music makers will be taught the tricks of the trade by local and regional hip hop icons during Urban Culture Week.
The annual event, which kick-starts tomorrow at Malja, the kingdom’s creative hub in Amwaj Islands, is being staged by Red Bull in collaboration with Outlaw Productions.
It will feature a number of workshops related to hip hop culture, catering to Bahrain’s break dancers, musicians, artists and talented performers with potential craving to be a part of the kingdom’s growing music scene.
Bahraini Mohammed Hasan, known to artists and his fan following as DJ Outlaw, believes that this initiative has a lot to offer youngsters and aspiring artists that want to join the urban movement as he once did when his musical career first took off in the late 1990s.
The 32-year-old founder, chief executive officer, managing director, DJ and producer of Outlaw Productions, said: “The idea of the event is to spread knowledge about urban culture and its elements as well as educate young artists to help them further develop.
“Bahrain has a lot of talented artists with plenty of potential and the music scene is growing steadily!
“The next step would be to bring in an education element to help these talents grow, which is what we’re trying to do with Urban Culture Week and will continue to do so with other initiatives.
“We hope that this contributes to the growth of the scene locally and regionally even further.”
DJ Outlaw will be teaching Music Production 101 on Saturday at 5pm and on Sunday at 3pm with his company starlet, Sarah Nabil. Together, they will teach teens and anyone interested in music, aged 15 and above, the basic steps of making a beat from scratch using Logic X software, covering pre-production, production and post production techniques.
The workshop will be two-hours long and a background in music production is preferred.
The second workshop by DJ Outlaw on Tuesday at 6pm will be Advanced DJ-ing, giving disc jockeys an in-depth look into the different types of DJ sets and how to use various effects and EQ’s while focusing on mixing and scratching techniques.
DJ Outlaw said: “What I’ll be offering is knowledge based on my personal experience of being a DJ and producer for more than 16 years.
“The workshops and talks are given by people with experience in their fields. It’s tough to find hands-on learning experiences because of the lack of workshops and courses in these areas of music. This is what a lot of developing artists need for them to add to their skills and move forward.
“I advise these aspiring artists to practice, educate yourself, work hard and invest in yourself. I always say this and I strongly believe in it. If you don’t invest in yourself, no one else will!”
Sarah, 22, is actually one of DJ Outlaw’s proteges, working alongside him since the age of 17 when she first fell in love with the art of music production. After learning from her mentor, she is now the first female R&B/hip hop producer and composer in Bahrain and the region. Sarah hopes to pave the way for other girls on the island.
The slim self-taught pianist, from Saar, said: “It’s a blessing that I get to be in the position I’m in, being the first female music producer in Bahrain in my genre.
“It’s a male-dominated industry universally, let alone in the Arab world, so I hope to pave the way for other women in Bahrain and around the region to break into the industry as producers and sound engineers. My main styles are R&B, soul and hip hop, but, of course, I always like to experiment with different sounds and styles!
“This is an art that I fell for instantaneously. There’s something magical about producing music and hearing a track come together over its production stages. The goal is to take it to an international level with the Outlaw Productions crew and represent Bahrain and the region doing it.”
Outlaw Production superstars, Bahrain’s hip hop hero Hussam Aseem, known by his stage name as Flipperachi (aka Flipp) and Kuwaiti artist Aied Mohammed Alenezi aka Arabique, will also be staging a class on Friday at 6pm titled The Art of Emceeing hosted by DJ Outalw. The duo will discuss the process of writing a song and the art of MCing.
Other workshops will include two-hour sessions of Creativity and Training in B-Boying by dancer B-Boy Frankie tomorrow at 6pm and on Friday at noon and Saturday at 3pm. Breakdancing practice sessions will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at noon. The Red Bull BC One Bahrain Cypher competition, featuring 16 of the best B-Boys, will compete for the title on May 1.
Also on the cards is a book signing on Friday at noon and a talk at 4pm. Writer Quentin de Pimodan and photographer Melchior de Tinguy are launching their book The Khaleeji Voice, a two-year project unearthing the urban art scene throughout the region and the basis of their Urban Nest group exhibition.
A lecture titled RE-VOLT | Music Liberation: The Story from Blog to FM Radio, will be hosted by Hassane Dennaoui, aka Big Hass, the founder of Re-Volt, an online radio blog at 5pm on Friday. He’s also the host and founder of Saudi Arabia’s first and only hip hop radio show Laish Hip Hop?
On Monday and Tuesday at 4pm, Bahraini street-artist Huvil will hold a three- to four-hour session about graffiti in the Walls and Can workshop starting from the basics before moving into scene setting. This is for those aged 18 and above.
On Thursday at 5pm, DJ Mr Tee aka Tyrone will be giving a short history on The Notorious IBE Music Festival open for anyone aged 16 and above.
This is the second Urban Culture Week to be hosted in Bahrain.
For details, visit www.urbancultureweek.com
