What 20 years in UAE music scene have taught singer Hamdan Abri

After more than 20 years as a professional musician in the UAE, whether recording and performing as a solo artist or co-founding several bands, Emirati soul singer Hamdan Abri has come to realise that longevity is all about creating your own opportunities.

This means balancing commercial work, including cover gigs and private performances, with the less financially rewarding creative pursuits of songwriting, recording and performing original music at his own expense.

“You need to keep things moving, and this is something I've learnt along the way. I'm actually seeing more artists doing that today,” he tells The National. “Not long ago, I went to see this great indie band based here called Tasty Biscuits. They're really talented and driven. They didn't wait around for gigs to come to them. They created and promoted their own shows, and that's really what needs to be done. It shows how the scene is evolving, with musicians building their own platforms and communities.”

He put the approach into play with his latest project, Abri and The Everlasting. Their debut album, The Healing, was launched with a concert at Sabaa Events Space in Dubai, an intimate venue increasingly used to showcase local live acts.

Show caption: Abri and The Everlasting, from left: bassist Steven Bedford,…

The concert, featuring songs from the album's 10-track blend of soul, psychedelic rock, funk and reggae, marked the end of a five-year gestation period. Abri says the band began with jam sessions while the live events industry was finding its feet following the pandemic.

The spaced-out production and Abri's almost hazy vocals reflect the freedom and uncertainty of the period.

“When I hear the record, I think the songs really speak of those times, from dealing with Covid-19 and lockdowns to where we are now, back out again and reconnecting with each other,” he says.

“And that's why it's called The Healing, because it personifies where we are personally and collectively. This is what music does for us, and hopefully what it will do for everybody who listens to it.”

The album continues Abri's two decades of collaborations, beginning with the eponymous band that brought him attention in the UAE's fledgling independent music scene during the early 2000s.

Working with keyboardist and producer Julian Symes, he developed a slick blend of soul, funk and RnB across albums including Sunchild and Blank Notes. The band performed across the region and Europe before its members eventually pursued different paths.

“Looking back on it now, I think it just felt like such a surreal moment,” he says. “But at that time, it just felt like we were moving and trying to keep the momentum going as much as we could until everybody else had to relocate and decide on different paths in life.”

Abri continued recording as a solo artist, with his track (Re)birth, from his self-titled 2011 EP, featured in an episode of American television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Along the way, he secured support slots for Sade and Erykah Badu and pursued other projects, from the percussion-heavy funk of Abri and Funk Radius to the electronic sounds of Abri and The Dreamfleet.

“I've always felt like I was a natural collaborator, and that's been really helpful because you can't do everything by yourself. Whenever I had writer's block, I felt like I didn't know which direction to take,” he says.

“But I've realised that projects like this one with The Everlasting come into my life and reignite my love for writing and making music, because it's not easy balancing all of that with everything else that comes with life outside music.”

He learnt that lesson first-hand when he performed with Herbie Hancock at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Festival, joining the jazz pianist for a version of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come during his headline concert at Emirates Palace.

He remembers the nerves during rehearsals, exacerbated by friends who kept reminding him of Hancock's considerable pedigree.

“Hancock just told me to relax and enjoy the process,” Abri recalls. “He was so reassuring. He said, 'Man, you do your thing. Don't worry, we'll follow you.' His musicians were amazing, but the lesson for me was to relax and trust the people you're working with. That's something I've been doing more with this album.

“I always find it humbling to sit back and hear these different ideas and ride with them, as opposed to being forceful about my own ideas,” he says. “It opens me up to different paths and ways of thinking about how to create or finish a song.”

Abri has witnessed changes in the UAE's music scene, particularly the increase in venues and commercial opportunities for musicians performing original English-language material.

The changes reminded him of his early years of trying to find work, not only to pay the bills but also to convince his family that music could be a viable profession.

“There were times when I wasn't making that much money and didn't have that many gigs. I kept having to prove myself, to my family, my friends and people in the industry,” he recalls.

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Those experiences inform Nothing Left to Prove, a song on The Healing reflecting how his ambitions have changed over two decades.

“The piece, in a way, is really about being at peace with myself. I don't feel like I need to chase anything any more,” he says. “It's about feeling blessed that I can be inspired by great people, whether they're musicians or not, and just keep growing from that, to always be a student and continue learning.”