In the spirit of showcasing Arab talent, Apple Music has collaborated with Brij Ent and is launching a series called Tent Sessions. It comprises of a number of unplugged sessions, that highlight up and coming Saudi talent. The entire series has drawn inspiration from the socio-cultural history of the Arabian Gulf and is set in a traditional backyard tent in Riyadh. The program’s core goal is to give artists a platform to embrace their talent and hopefully, go beyond the borders of their country.
Apple Music is a global platform that provides artists and songwriters access to a global reach, allowing them to access new audiences. One of the artists participating in ‘Tent Sessions’ known as Jeed says, “Tent Sessions is a beautiful initiative. Documenting our songs in ‘live format’ has always been missing in our region. It’s great to be standing alongside other fellow artists and presenting our work with Apple Music on a global level. It’s important to be heard and seen in different formats. Apple Music is the first platform to ever support my music career as I was coming up. I know that through initiatives such as Tent Sessions, I can expect even more variety from the platform with curations from our region, and spotlighted content for individuals to tell their story.”
Many other artists have agreed with Zeej. One of them, Abdulrahman Hajaj, who released a song on the series called ‘Follow me into the Dark,’ is claiming that Tent Sessions is a “a great platform for artists in the region to showcase what they can do on a global level.”
The reason this series was brought to life and was introduced in the Kingdom, specifically, is to support the Saudi Arabia’s vision to restructure and modernise society as well as the economy.
In an interview with Apple Music, Hajaj says, “In the past few years the music scene here has definitely evolved through a social and cultural shift in perceptive. Individuality and authenticity are being celebrated which allows for a more fruitful and colorful musical landscape.”
In regards to the same topic, Yemen-raised and Saudi-based Sudanese artist Zii says, “Remembering what making music was like back in the early days in Saudi, and seeing what it’s like right now is something really huge. The country is evolving in every aspect and its vision has brought artists closer together, inspiring them to share this rich culture locally and and internationally.”
Tent Sessions provides an immersive audio experience for listeners with spatial audio with the support of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music. This enables artists to mix and combine music so that listeners can have the full immersive experience.
Listen to the playlist here.
