AMMAN — Lead vocalist and songwriter of Jordanian indie band
“Kameen” Hazem Bawab describes the process of writing music as a conversation
he could be having with somebody who is very close to him.
اضافة اعلان
“If I feel like talking about love, I talk about love, and
if I feel like talking about philosophy, I talk about philosophy,” Bawab told Jordan
News in a recent interview.
One topic he does shy away from, however, is politics.
“I think it’s toxic for music; my major beliefs are more
holistic, I like to sing about everything, and I feel that if I give into that
and I sing about it [politics], it will overshadow the other stuff,” Bawab
said.
Although the past decade saw a boom in the alternative music
scene in Jordan, when Bawab started his music career 20 years ago, the indie
scene was “weak”, according to the musician.
“There were some underground bands but there was no
attraction, there were no fans. … Indie songs that are famous now were actually
released a long time ago.”
Bawab discovered his love for music at the age of 9, while
learning violin at the National Music Conservatory. He composed his first song
at the age of 15 and has been doing it ever since.
In 2003, three of Hazem’s songs were played on the radio
anonymously. “They used to play them on 96.3 FM, but I refused to put my name
on them, because at the time, I thought that as a musician and a businessman,
people will not take me seriously,” Hazem told Jordan News.
Hazem, who at the age of 23 was launching both his music
career and his IT startup, struggled with these two sides of his life
coexisting in the public eye.
“Imagine a 23-year-old guy with a startup company who sings,
and, at the same time, is coming to sell you a software that is worth
JD100,000. I had this perception that people will not take me seriously, that
they will think my business is not my main thing, because by default, being a
musician will outshine being an entrepreneur,” said Hazem.
“If you google my name now, you will find more about my
music than you will about my companies.”
Playing music for hours in his room as a child, Hazem says
his parents were rather concerned when he took a serious interest in music at
first. “I wanted an acoustic guitar and my dad refused to buy it because it
cost too much and he said I should focus on my studies.”
He managed, however, to make the money on his own, working
for a pizza place while visiting his sister in California.
“That was the first guitar I bought with my own money. … And
I still have it, it is still in my office,” Bawab said.
His parents came around after that, he recalled. “They
realized there is no stopping this, so they kind of gave in.”
After three years in the music scene, Kameen is finally
launching as “a full-fledged indie band”, according to Bawab.
“Before COVID-19, we used to do a couple of our own songs,
then ten covers. Now we are going to do ten of our own songs and a couple of
covers. We are very excited about it, we are going to be pushing in the
direction that we have been moving towards in the past 3 years.”
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