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As part of a series of pre-shows to promote JazzFest 2019, popular band The Relocators performed a 45-minute live set at the Virgin Megastore capping off with a mini-workshop involving members of the audience.
The band consisting of the core trio including Faisal Amin, Ali Alqaseer and Jojo Canlas, met in 2008 at the Ilham Music Festival, now called the Museland Festival, when they were each part of different bands and started playing together circa 2012.
When asked how they would define their sound and musical genre, Faisal ruminated for a hot second before remarking – “Twelve notes with an attitude on the outside of humbleness.” While at first, this may seem like another heap of hipster patois to sound different in an overcrowded musical scene, when they started playing, it started to make sense. Their music, drawing inspiration from blues musicians, pays humble homage to their Bahraini roots, with a hint of Arabian audacity.
With Faisal on vocals and guitar, Ali on drums and Jojo on bass, there is an ethereal energy to their music, blending contemporary and classic elements of rock n’ roll, blues, jazz and alternative music and adding a raw edge, which is best experienced live.
Ali said: “We came together, knowing and respecting each other’s musical abilities of course, but more importantly, because of the chemistry between us. Even with supporting or guest members, the onstage and offstage chemistry is often more important than individual musical capabilities.”
The band, which has been exciting the crowds in Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Serbia for more than five years, released their debut EP in September 2014, which was received greatly by music lovers all over the Middle East and abroad.
They have also opened for international names such as ‘The Heavy’, ‘The Regurgitator’ and ‘Legends Of Ska’, been finalists on Rolling Stone Middle East’s Street To Stage contest and were among the bands chosen as winners of the Axe Bring The Quiet vinyl album, which allowed them to meet and work with the legendary Martin Glover aka “Youth” in planning their steps and shaping their sound for the coming period.
Lyrically, they derive inspiration from nature and finding harmony and balance between mankind and its quieter cousins. In fact, Ali, along with his wife and the band’s number one fan Ruqaya Hashem are founders of Cleanup Bahrain, and Faisal one of its most active members, as reported in the GulfWeekly last week.
Last year, they were part of the pre-show series of local talent for the Jazz Fest before being selected as one of the key Bahraini bands performing on November 1, 2019 at the Royal Golf Club. If one hasn’t experienced their music in person, any musical aficionado must find time to check them out at the Jazz Fest, particularly looking for Faisal and Jojo’s favourite song, “Time to let it go,” a spirited shanty about the importance of living in the moment.
- Naman Arora
