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BAHRAINI performer and recording artist May Alqasim will be singing her heart out for an upcoming global project that will feature creatives from around the world joining hands ... to unite people through music.
The 31-year-old liver transplant survivor and singer-songwriter from Marassi was called upon by Eric Helzer, a musician, producer and sound engineer from Portland, Oregon, USA to join him and countless others in the ‘United Song Project’ and May was more than happy to represent the kingdom.
“Eric is on a mission to have an artist from every single part of the world, from every country and every territory to be a part of this song,” said the soulful singer who released 7amdillah, a three-minute R&B, rap and hip-hop ditty featuring Ashwin Shenoy, better known by his stage name ‘Xenai’, last year.
“The concept is a non-profit production. The inspiring and powerful song is aimed at uplifting people. Its expressive melodic lines and lyrics will give you a sense of belonging and hope. There is a lot of love and harmony within this song.”
He had contacted her after hearing her Heal the World, a 1LOVE Productions collaboration with 30 fellow creatives voicing a hopeful message of bringing people together.
“After he contacted me to represent Bahrain, I found out that he had seen and heard the Heal The World music video and rendition of the song that I put together last year,” she said. “I had no idea that it went that far and this type of collaboration that brings different people together is right up my alley.
“All the musicians in this project have never met each other in person and who knows, maybe one day face-to-face collaborations could be on the horizon. Eric is a hero to me - look what he has just unlocked!”
The project currently features more than 170 singers and musicians boasting different styles and levels of experience with the aim of releasing the song by the end of the year. Each participant received a set A and set B lyrics to choose from and a demo to follow and remember. The selected group connects through Facebook to make the musical dream a reality.
“There’s a big combination of singers and instrumentalists,” May added. “So far, the track is around three to four minutes long, but it’s still an ongoing process and may change.
“All the artists have to do is to record their parts in the best quality they can and send it back over as stem files. There will be a video part too, but we have not come to that point yet. As you can imagine, this project is massive and requires time to scope, record, collect, edit and put together.”
Then it will be sent for mastering and once completed, will be available on all music e-distribution platforms, free to the public worldwide.
May is also finalising her EP which she has written and recorded.
“I’m excited about this concept and solo project,” she said. “This will be out very soon! I have also obtained a commercial licence to start my own events and have many plans to bring the platform for original material back.
“It’s going to be an amazing new chapter for the local music scene. I hope I can inspire people to reach for the stars, as you never know who hears you and sees you out there. That’s how it happened for me!”
For details, follow @mayalqasimofficial on Instagram.
