Today, Startup MGZN had the pleasure of speaking to a talented Bahraini musician and multi-instrumentalists: Abdulla Faisal. He’s known for his solemn drum beats and hypnotizing performance with the well-known Bahraini-based Progressive Fusion Folk band Majaz. Aside from being a percussionist at Majaz, Abdulla has been working on another solo-music project: Boffais.
So what exactly inspired Abdulla Faisal to kick off Boffais? And what type of genre does it fall under? Read on to find out.
“I don’t think a musician should always stick to one specific genre of music,” Abdulla says. He first started out with guitars, then moved onto bass and drums. His curiosity and eagerness to listen to all types of music and his passion for learning how to play every instrument lead to the birth of Boffais. With Boffais, he started composing songs in Jazz, Indie Rock, Reggae, Electro and more. According to Abdulla, he is currently exploring and composing any type of music that grabs his feeling.
What’s unique about Abdulla is, unlike other musicians that focus on one genre and one language to write their songs in, he actually writes songs in different languages including Arabic, English, and Spanish. He composes his songs by combining these three languages together. We don’t know about you but that sure sounds impressive! This enables Abdulla to reach a wider audience, where literally everyone can understand and enjoy his music.
Another exciting event that happened to Abdulla Faisal is his exemplary performance in Columbia. On September 2nd, 2017, he had his concert in Colombia’s most important theaters “Teatro Pablo Tobon” in a city called Medellin where many international artists and important Colombian musicians have performed in this theater. “Most of the crowd who attended my shows in Colombia didn’t even know Bahrain existed, and it makes me very happy that because of music, more people know that Bahrain exists,” he says. On the 15th of September, he also performed in another city in Colombia called Cali.
Abdulla believes in the talent of Bahraini artists and musicians stating that a lot of them have international potential with their musical talent. When asked about how can more Bahraini artists receive recognition and get the chance to play their music abroad, Abdulla suggests that Bahrain needs more music-related events and festivals that focus on encouraging the locals and providing them with the experience of playing on stage. One way of doing that is through granting Bahraini musicians a chance to open up for international artists in Formula 1 events, he adds.
Furthermore, Abdulla comments on how Bahrain needs more music stores, institutes, and concerts in order to encourage the local musical talent and enable them to grow their career and passion for music.
Alternatively, he mentions that Bahrain is gradually changing and is starting to provide a space for full-time musicians. “I have performed with my other band Majaz in Spring of Culture which was very fortunate for us and all the bands in Bahrain, and it’s a very good direction that the Authority of Culture is getting into.”
You can listen to Boffais’s rejuvenating music through SoundCloud and Mideast Tunes. You can also keep up with his updates by following him on Instagram.