Bashar Murad is Breaking Down The Walls
Palestinian singer/songwriter and activist Bashar Murad is not afraid to challenge stereotypes and highlights social issues facing Palestinian youth through his music.
For his first release on Abu-Dhabi based label PopArabia, Bashar Murad may have turned out his best track to date. Maskhara is an infectious little genre-hopping earworm shot through with Arabic influences. It also gives nods to disco, ’80s retro and even has a lilting Caribbean bounce to the beat.
Calling Card
Released 11th December, it’s an Arab pop calling card. Basher tackles disillusionment, hope and escapism in equal measure in his clever, witty and thought-provoking way. Basher directed the video for the single too. In it, he demonstrates his belief in love over war by theatrically placing a bouquet of flowers in the turret of a tank. Tumbling walls in the vid represent the division in the region. “They also represent the yearning for an escape from the walls society places around us, and the hope to break free from them,” said Basher.
You can watch the video below:
Music and the alternative scene is very much in Bashar’s blood. His father is the founder of ’80s alternative Palestinian band Sabreen. Having steadily built his YouTube following through songs sung in Arabic and English and his self-produced videos, Bashar is already a bit of a press darling. He’s featured in articles from CBC and The Guardian to the Globe and Mail and the BBC.
Gender Equality
In 2018, the United Nations commissioned Bashar to write a song and produce an accompanying video for its ‘Men and Women for Gender Equality Regional Programme’. Bashar responded with his track Ana Zalameh (I Am A Man).
By 2019 Basher was playing his Arabic pop gumbo across the Middle East, Europe and Canada. Showing his diversity, he also collaborated with Icelandic industrial punk band Hatari on Klefi/Samed. Check that out below.
