The UAE has been a desert in more ways than one when it comes to live independent music, but 2014 is looking to be the beginning of a new era… enter Freshly Ground Sounds.
Growing, expanding, emerging – these are all great words to describe the UAE. But despite the remarkable development throughout the country in the past few decades, a strong musical identity has been conspicuously absent. One initiative that is launching this year aims to change that.
Ismat Abidi, or Izzy for short, saw the need for something new and different in the Abu Dhabi and Dubai live music scenes. A musician herself, she felt the need for a collaborative music community in the Emirates and so decided to take action. Izzy recalls that she ‘knew a few scattered musicians, but there was no real platform to bring them together.’ So she decided to unite them under one enterprise.
The result is Freshly Ground Sounds (FSG), a non-profit organisation that brings together independent musicians from around the UAE to collaborate and perform for audiences in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The name Freshly Ground Sounds is a bit of a play on words, referencing the coffee shops that so often are the birthplace of independent music projects. Izzy says ‘It’s not specifically targeted to coffee shops, but I was inspired to come up with a name that associates music and intimate community venues. These places usually serve coffee.’
In the few – very few – months that Freshly Ground Sounds has been in existence, the response from the community has been extraordinary. Izzy notes that ‘within the space of nine weeks, [FSG has] had four hugely successful events, national media coverage and over 50 musicians have signed up to the project.’ A truly grassroots campaign, FSG has spread almost exclusively through word of mouth. The success that it has enjoyed indicates that the country has been waiting for something like this for some time now.
It’s not just musicians who are supporting this initiative, either. Audiences throughout the country have turned up to events to hear what UAE musicians have to play. Izzy remembers one particularly exciting event: ‘Our gig in Safa Park was a turning point for me, and the moment I realised Freshly Ground Sounds had tapped into something special. It was our second event and we were expecting about 40-50 people. Over 250 people turned up and sprawled across the grass outside The Archive. During the day, I was worried about whether we’d have enough light for an acoustic evening in a park, so I frantically gathered some lamps from my bedroom and living room to light up the stage. It worked perfectly for our lo-fi, laid-back culture and created a living room festival in the middle of Safa Park. My bedroom lamps now come along with me to most of our events.’
Aside from the much-needed influx of homegrown music that FSG has created, Izzy’s own story is also noteworthy. A lawyer by training, she grew up in the UAE and studied in the UK, where she was exposed to the robust underground music scene. She has now returned to the UAE and is using her training and experience of her time in a music-rich environment to try to recreate that culture here.
“I like my day job but I’m also very passionate about music. The enthusiasm for Freshly Ground Sounds comes without any effort, so it never feels like a chore.”
She’s aware that starting a group from scratch like this can be a gamble but she’s optimistic about the endeavor. Izzy says “my advice for starting any initiative is to find something you care about enough to want to work on, without needing any motivation.”
Although several introductory events took place in 2013, this year will mark the official launch of the organisation. There are plenty of kick-off events in the works. Though there are no official dates yet, the project is planning to return to Abu Dhabi at the end of February.
The FSG events are open to anyone who wants to sign up—although spots fill up fast. To get involved with FSG, email FreshlyGroundSounds@gmail.com. Find out about their events including dates, times and announcements on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FreshlyGroundSounds.
