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Liver transplant survivor and singer-songwriter May Alqasim has defied her own challenges as well as the pandemic, bringing two of her long-due projects to fruition within the last week, writes Naman Arora.
On Friday, with Ashwin Shenoy, better known by his stage name ‘Xenai’, she released 7amdillah, a three-minute R&B, rap and hip-hop ditty embodying the roller-coaster of a year the pair of friends has had.
“Xenai and I met a few months before the pandemic broke out, and from the get-go, it was a no-brainer that we needed to collaborate,” explained the 30-year-old vocalist who has shared her struggles with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) on her social media channels.
“I loved working with him! He’s so much like me and we’ve got the same sense of humour and the best part is that we just have this understanding of one another, both musically and personally. There aren’t many disagreements since we have the same logic and vision.
“Believe it or not, the pandemic worked in our favour. Some would say it took too long, but I don’t believe so.
“We paused when we had to and resumed when we could and allowed the track to breathe and develop, alongside me doing the same as a human.
“It wasn’t even intended but this is how I feel about the song going in parallel with how I felt during the transplant journey.
“When I came back, the only things left to do were move things around, take a few things out, add a few ad-libs and record my tributes.”
She said the most difficult part was being away from each other at times and making decisions from abroad or via the phone, especially when it came to launching the song in terms of logistics and social media platforms.
“It was such a treat to make that even small glitches didn’t seem problematic!”
The song, now available on all popular music-streaming platforms, features R&B style verses by May, interlacing Arabic and English, and not shying away from classic Bahraini and Arabic imagery, starting from the name ‘alhumdulillah,’ stylised as 7amdillah, which means ‘praise be to God.’
Xenai brings in his trademark quick-fire witty lyricism, flavoured with the braggadocio that has become synonymous with rap culture.
The song was recorded at the 27-year-old musician’s home studio and produced by him, as well.
The cover art was done by popular Bahraini artist Mustafa Halwachi, who came up with the concept within minutes of May explaining the emotions of a journey, followed by darkness, ultimately leading to hope and light.
“Xenai and I often talk a lot about energies and soul searching,” May told GulfWeekly.
“We talked a lot about my liver condition from the transition all the way up to the transplant. The themes of hope, self-belief, empowerment, second chances and the higher power came up a lot and when we mixed that with talks of our art, skill, experiences and the industry, you will get something that sounds like this.
“I’m so happy and humbled we could convey these while keeping it fun and light-hearted because that’s just who we are even in the darkest of days!
“We wanted to show our appreciation to everyone and everything including each other and ourselves.”
May is coy about future collaborations with Xenai, suggesting that there is more in the pipeline, but doesn’t want to go into details just yet.
Since releasing this song, she also unveiled Heal the World, a 1LOVE Productions collaboration with 30 fellow creatives voicing a hopeful message of bringing people together.
“This collaboration is something that I feel Bahrain really needs,” she said.
“I was inspired by Michael Jackson’s Heal the World.
“We see war, we see pain, struggle, corruption, violence, sickness, starvation, pollution and the list goes on! Yet it is in our hand, as people, to heal this all with love, peace, unity, strength, will and hope.
“Over 30 different souls from an array of ethnic backgrounds, ages, experiences, talent, occupations and skill came together to sing this song and embody Bahrain’s resilient spirit.
“Videographers, musicians, sound engineers, tech teams and all around supporting acts united, and I am so excited to bring this music video out. We hope it touches all of you the way it touched us.”
7amdillah is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon and Shazam. For details, follow @xenaimuzik and @mayalqasimofficial on Instagram.
