Sound of the UAE

Abu Dhabi-based record label and studio White Cube ushers in a new era for local musical talent in the UAE, giving them a platform to perform

More often than once, the UAE has been associated with and beleaguered by stereotypes, even in music. Main-stream cinema and advertising from across the world has either depicted the country with a background of tunes that stem from eastern Arabian music tradition, filled with images of grand deserts and flying falcons, or dramatic music from a full-size orchestra packed with visions of the UAE's many architectural wonders and its glitzy five-star hotels.
But ask any musician living, breathing, working, and making an income out of the art form here in the UAE, and they'll say the country does not have a musical style. "There is no 'UAE' sound," shrugged Waleed Shah, one of the three founders of White Cube Studios, a recording studio based in Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi. Maybe he is right, how can a country that houses more than 200 nationalities have a signature 'sound'?
However, under the glitz and the pomp and the soft clink of glasses and classical music that emanate from lavish, chandelier-filled ballrooms, the UAE has a vibrant, undercurrent music culture. Ranging from traditional sounds like jazz, hip hop, house, electronic, ska, and reggae, the scene is omnipresent in clubs, coffee shops, and alternative performance grounds. Also, since the late '80s, the 200+ cultures have come together, rather beautifully, to form ear-gasming sounds that gave rise to sub-genres like- chill-pop, country rock, folk metal, drum and bass, and jazz-rock for example. For many years, expatriates and Arab musicians complained - "the UAE has no music scene" and like an answer to these many isolated, disorganised prayers, White Cube Studios was born in 2013.
Where it all began
White Cube Studios is a community-driven music studio where musicians get to rehearse and record their music. "Incidentally and symbolically, the studio itself was set up by musicians-for musicians," added Shah. Founders of White Cube and former schoolmates Nerses Sanassian, Abraham Wakim, and Shah, saw opportunity when everyone else whined about the UAE's non-existent underground music scene. "We were schoolmates in Abu Dhabi and after university, the three of us came back here and decided to do something about this no-scene," said Sanassian. The studio was launched initially to encourage and revitalise the underground music scene in the UAE. "Apart from the recording facilities, it also specialises in photography and video, providing artists with the facilities to make themselves more presentable," added Sanassian. They also manage local talent 'Carl and the Reda Mafia' who are signed to the studio as artists, and are recipients of the 'Best Local Band' award at the 2016 Hype Music and Nightlife Awards.
Sanassian added: "Music has always been an important part of what we do." He obtained his audio engineering degree from Los Angeles, and has recorded internationally acclaimed artists like Jessie J, Asking Alexandria, and Sick Puppies. "Back when we set up, there was no local music scene, neither was there an underground music scene," said Shah, who leads the photography and video division at White Cube. Shah also takes care of artist placement at the studio. Before the studio was set up, the trio invited local artists to jam and perform at Wakim's basement. "We offered them a platform to showcase their talents. We would feature them on our official page on Facebook, have an official video and song release, and allow them to ham for free," said Shah. "Eventually, that pattern gained a lot of attention, and slowly, a massive community of artists began connecting with us and gradually, it began turning into a community music hub," added Shah.
Less than four months into this initiative, the partners decided to set up shop in Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, and since there has been no looking back. From a platform that has been actively encouraging local musical talent, White Cube is now connecting the wider art community through their monthly mini-concert 'Metronome', which takes place at the Abu Dhabi Westin hotel. More recently, on April 23, they organised an end-of-season open-air mini carnival of sorts- consisting of musicians, dancers, artists, poets, face painters, yoga classes and the works.
Chipping into the conversation, the team's marketing lead Alina Zygowska, whose focus is on events management and delivery, said: "Metronome began in small coffee shops in Abu Dhabi that would host local talent. On April 23, we organised the event in collaboration with communal art-duo Blank Canvas."
White Cube Radio
Perhaps, the most important offering from White Cube radio is its 24/7 radio station available for live streaming on a free to download White Cube app, as well as on SoundCloud. The station features music predominantly from independent local indie, hiphop, jazz, and house music artists. Zygowska hosts a radio show for White Cube called Shoutout where they regularly feature up and coming artists - across genres - from across the UAE. The station hosts five different shows and the producers of the show are insistent about using original content made by local musicians.
"Local radio stations will not play tracks produced by local artists," said Shah, and White Cube's radio shows are an attempt to make their work popularly known. The studio also showcases an immensely popular weekly show called Keep it Real with Azza, featuring Emirati radio presenter Azza Al Mughairy who discusses everything from socially taboo subjects in Emirati culture such as divorce rates among Emiratis, to coffee and cookies. The studio's initiative 'Inspired' also allows two artists from different genres, who're also complete strangers, to perform and record a track together.
Future plans
The fun stuff aside, the team at White Cube is extremely serious about creating an economy around music in UAE. "Starting from Abu Dhabi-to-Dubai-to-UAE and the region at large, we want local artists to perform and get paid for their performances," said Shah.
Sanassian said, "We want to create opportunity for talented local acts and create that interest among members of the public. The studio gives them the space and related video and picture content that they can use to market themselves well.
"Right now, there is very little money for live local acts and it's still an environment where cover acts are more popular than actual talent.replace that with original local music." Shah said that luckily for the UAE, there is a scene for every genre and slowly new venues are opening up to host local talent. From a scenario where two years ago, there was no 'scene', pop-up performances and venues are opening up to the idea of giving local talent a platform to perform. "Music Room has been doing that for many years, there is Zero Gravity, and pop-up concerts like Freshly Ground Sounds. Today, every famous international act that comes to Dubai has a local talent as the opening act," they added.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com