{"id":2078,"date":"2022-08-25T03:37:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T03:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/thousands-throng-to-iran-museum-with-western-art-masterpieces\/"},"modified":"2022-08-25T03:37:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T03:37:04","slug":"thousands-throng-to-iran-museum-with-western-art-masterpieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2078","title":{"rendered":"Thousands throng to Iran museum with Western art masterpieces"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nDUBAI: The first track on Soolking\u2019s latest album, \u201cSans Visa,\u201d is called \u201cKurt Kobain.\u201d It\u2019s a nod to his roots as a fan of Nirvana and other grunge bands who started his music career as a drummer in a rock band in his native Algeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s just one example of the wide array of music that Soolking (real name Abderraouf Derradji) enjoys listening to and is influenced by, even if that influence isn\u2019t always clear in his own material.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI listen to a lot of different music, so my influences were a little bit from everywhere,\u201d Derradji tells Arab News. \u201cFrom the traditional music of Algeria, like ra\u00ef, American rap, French rap, reggae music, pop music like Michael Jackson, jazz\u2026 I\u2019m not listening only to hip-hop or anything.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cMy own music is Soolking music,\u201d he continues. \u201cI don\u2019t want to give it a label, you know? My music is my music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nSoolking (real name Abderraouf Derradji)\u00a0was born and raised in Algiers. (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\nHowever you want to describe that music (media write-ups usually reference rap, R&B, reggae and ra\u00ef as the most obvious touchstones), it\u2019s clearly connecting with people. Since 2018, Soolking has racked up 8 billion streams on various platforms. The clip for the album\u2019s third track, \u201cSuavamente,\u201d released in February, has over 143 million views on YouTube. He\u2019s one of the biggest pop stars in the world whose primary language isn\u2019t English \u2014 which isn\u2019t to say he doesn\u2019t pull in English-speaking audiences; he\u2019s played North America many times, including New York\u2019s storied Apollo Theater in May. In France, he\u2019s famous enough that when I ask whereabouts in Paris he lives at the start of our interview, the reply is brief: \u201cI can\u2019t tell you that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s been a remarkable journey for Derradji, who was born and raised in Algiers. While he\u2019s quick to stress that growing up in Algeria\u2019s capital city was \u201ca real enrichment and life experience for me,\u201d he\u2019s also frank about the fact that it was hard, as a young man, to see any real future for himself there.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\nSoolking’s big break came when a friend invited him onto a radio show to perform a freestyle rap, titled\u00a0\u2018Guerilla,\u2019 that quickly went viral. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n\u201cI think maybe 90 percent of the boys my age were in the same situation,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of them were looking to go and find a better chance somewhere in Europe, or the States. That\u2019s the reality. I was looking for the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHis wanderlust had only been increased by international tours he had done with the professional dance company he joined as a teenager. \u201cI\u2019d had this experience of seeing how people lived in the rest of the world \u2014 in Europe and the USA. So, when I came back to Algeria, I just didn\u2019t want to accept the situation I was living in. That\u2019s why I decided to leave,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe if you haven\u2019t seen (other places), it\u2019s just a dream that pushes you to leave. But when you see, and you come back, it makes it, like, \u2018I have to leave.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCreative physical expression of some kind has always been a part of Derradji\u2019s life, he says. From martial arts and acrobatics as a kid, then break dancing, then professional dance of all kinds (he still keeps up his dance training now).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nDerradji\u2019s father was a drummer in a band in Algeria when he was in his early twenties, which inspired Derradji to try it out himself \u2014 a natural fit for someone with such a clearly developed sense of rhythm. The two mediums \u2014\u00a0music and dance \u2014\u00a0give him different ways to reach an audience.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou can say what you have in your heart in music. But you can say it by your moves in dance too,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s two feelings \u2014 which I can\u2019t really explain \u2014 but they\u2019re not so different. You can feel it when you\u2019re on stage \u2014 it\u2019s quite similar reactions (from the audience), but maybe it\u2019s a little more intense when you\u2019re singing, because you\u2019re talking directly to the people. But that\u2019s really the only point of difference between the two types of art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nSoolking has made a name for himself in the French music community and beyond. (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\nWhen Derradji decided to somehow get himself to France, he \u201cwas hoping to make music. Or to dance. To stay an artist anyway. I was sure that an artist\u2019s life in Europe would be much better than an artist\u2019s life in Algeria. I was sure of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe move definitely worked out for Derradji. But sometimes it seemed like it might not. The album title \u201cSans Visa\u201d is a nod to the fact that he arrived in France without the necessary documentation to stay there.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI had no papers. I had no house. I had no food. I was sleeping on the streets,\u201d is Derradji\u2019s blunt assessment of his bleak situation there. \u201cIt was very difficult at the beginning. First, I had to find work \u2018on the black,\u2019 as we say here \u2014 meaning you\u2019re working without papers. Once I started to get some money, I could pay rent on a room here in Paris. After that I managed to get my papers, and was a bit more stable. That\u2019s when I began to think about art again. Those first years, I wasn\u2019t thinking about art, I was thinking only about how to live. But then I began to work on my music again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHis big break came when a friend invited him onto a radio show to perform a freestyle rap, titled \u201cGuerilla,\u201d that quickly went viral.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s talking about my life, about my character, about my music. Talking about me. It\u2019s a song for me and for the people in Algeria living like I was,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was such a big deal, but it went huge. I was shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe hasn\u2019t really looked back since, forging a name for himself in the French music community and beyond, and working with numerous collaborators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI produce music, but I work with a lot of producers as well. I write all my lyrics. I do maybe 90 percent of all my melodies. But I love to work with people and try to take a little bit from their inspiration and mix it with my inspiration. That\u2019s important,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t do everything alone. It\u2019s not possible. And it\u2019s not fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\u201cMy music is universal,\u201d says Soolking. (Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n\u201cI don\u2019t go to someone because they have a \u2018name,\u2019 you know? I go to someone because I heard what they do and I want to work with them. It\u2019s about feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFeeling\u201d is perhaps the most important factor in Derradji\u2019s work \u2014\u00a0the thing that has most helped him forge a connection with hundreds of millions of people across the globe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m a great optimist by nature. Optimism is what kept me going, so, as long as I can, I\u2019ll continue to convey that to my audience,\u201d he says. \u201cMy music is universal; it has no borders and does not stop at a single musical genre. That\u2019s where the strength of my music lies; to be able to unite so many people behind a single objective: To make people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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