Arab Musician Amir Hedayah Wins Prestigious Hollywood Award

Congratulations to MENA music composer Amir Hedayah who scooped an award at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. The talented Egyptian won the ‘Best Title Music – Foreign TV Show’ award for his theme tune to ‘Dofaat Beirut’. Amir was “mesmerized” to be among the “biggest inspiring names in the world in the field of scoring to visual media”.

Set in the ’60s, ‘Dofaat Beirut’ is a hit Lebanese TV show. Before tailoring original tracks for specific scenes, Amir worked closely with the show’s director, producer and editor. He created the soundtrack after getting “the vibes” of the project.

“It was an unusual challenge to musically capture the essence of another country in another time period,” said Amir. He adopted a hint of the French influence found in Lebanese music during this period of Lebanon’s history. “Using this music palette, I created different emotions for the show like romance, disturbance, joy and sorrow.”

Diverse

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMAs) began in 2009 to celebrate original music in visual media including films, TV programmes and video games. Today, the HMMAs also recognise more diverse works and scores from animation shorts, independent productions and foreign TV shows. You can check out the full list of winners here.

World Music

As well as winning the ‘Best Title Music – Foreign TV Show’ award, Amir’s El Otoor single was nominated for Best World Music Track. That nomination was the result of people power taking his music viral. Amir created El Otoor as a musical doodle to fight boredom and lift spirits during a Covid-induced lockdown.

The doodle and its accompanying one-minute video went viral. Followers and friends asked for a full version. So Amir create a full track around an authentic Egyptian farm-side sound fused with Flamenco jazz harmonies. It also reached the ears of the HMMA committee. “It’s amazing to receive international recognition for something that represents your original culture,” said Amir.

The Grammys

Now Amir Hedayah is shaking up the world-renowned Grammy Awards. Off the back of his HMMA win, the Recording Academy called up Amir to help them create a new award category. The new award will honour more diverse world music artists, who Amir believes deserve wider international recognition.

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