“Over the clouds” is a musical project commissioned by Dubai Expo’s Saudi pavilion in september 2021, produced by Filmmaster MEA.
The purpose of the project is to represent Saudi’s tradition, as well as Saudi’s vision of the future with an original music creation.
Some sets were used for Circus acts, some others were part of a calligraphy act on the fly with artist Julien Breton.
This project is exactly what I love to do the most: research traditional music, select songs that I like and that are relevant to the project, make new arrangements and create new compositions inspired by the music selected. It needs a lot of experience to respect the style of the music, and at the same time create something new, original and interesting. I started this long time ago with Pecheurs de Perles.
- Over the Clouds : This is a composition inspired by some musics of Mohamed Abdu, a famous Saudi singer. I just use his voice improvising at the end. It was used on a calligraphy act.
- Dylia Future : The purpose is to evoque the future, while keeping some middle-east elements, so I did somethink manly electronic with a Turkish Kaval Flute. It was use on a hand stand/contortionist act.
- Mishena : Here I took a mawal (voice improvisation) of my friend Mohamed Alnuma (Pecheurs de Perles), and completly transformed the mood to something futuristic and very dynamic. It was used on a Russian bars act.
- Najran Saudi : I started with some traditional songs and percussion, and then took my personal way. The Ney impro at the end sounds very Sufi
- Asmara Abara : Here I remixed an actual song of Mohamed Abdu. I kept the original, while ading Kanun (sampled), Ney, Percussion, electric bass and strings (sampled).
- Olong Maksum : This tune is from a previous project. It is based on the “Maksum” traditional rythm but with electronic sounds. The tune evolves thru different maqams.
- Nabru Wind : Ambiant tune based on Saidi rythm
- Timeless Saudi : Another creation based on Arabic elements, rythm and mode
- Slemac, Lost Village, Harmonius Chaos, Neo Bedouin, Andalus Ruins and Rak Camels are tunes from other video projects, within the same concept
- Habib Baby and Suleyman are compositions based on a Turkish Sufi mood