Mohammed Alshoaiby Saudi Gazette Dressed in a white button down shirt and brown khakis, Saudi musician Nasser Alamiri is an unassuming wrench in the works of the guitar player stereotype. By day, Alamiri is starting his residency as a physician proudly donning his hospital scrubs, sheathing the calloused fingers of more than a decade's worth of guitar playing under his surgical gloves. His long-winding journey has led him, guitar in hand, through the music scenes of Riyadh, Chicago and Ohio, where he recorded his first acoustic solo album. “In the past two years I've been focusing more on playing acoustic,” Alamiri told Saudi Gazette after demonstrating some of the rough cuts from the upcoming album, which he describes as an EP (extended play album) of acoustic instrumentals. “I reached a point where I was comfortable enough to actually start playing these songs in front of people, alone, with no dubbing.” Alamiri is currently in the mixing phase of his EP, coordinating via e-mail with Brett Dennison, producer and engineer at Firefly Studios in Toledo, Ohio, during his vacation in Riyadh. Alamiri's journey as a musician was not all smooth sailing. Before pursuing his music career in Ohio, Alamiri was a med-student at King Saud University in Riyadh, playing guitar in a heavy metal band. On the challenges that Saudi musicians face, particularly in Riyadh, Alamiri said: “It's not easy to actually take your music out and share it with people, for the lack of an abundant audience and the fact that, with this music, you have to play in small venues. That's non-existent in Riyadh.” “If you play a type of music – any genre of music – that is not Arabic music, or very common, you won't really find an audience that is big enough to support you,” he said while adding that the cultural expectancies of listeners in the region dictate the artist's output. “Culture is one of the major challenges,” he said, “especially here in Riyadh.” The culture Alamiri is talking about is both technical and traditional. On the technical side, Western music is written in a different way from Eastern and Middle Eastern music, involving different tonal patterns that listeners of different regions respectively recognize melodically. Traditionally, Arabic music is vocal-centric, relying on the effect a song has on a singer's delivery, lyricism and performance rather than focusing on the composer or backing band. Instrumental music scarcely makes pop charts in any region but acts do sign on to major labels, while the leading Saudi-owned record label, Rotana, has yet to sign an instrumental act. It is not his vocal ability that prevented Alamiri from breaking into the Saudi music scene. His YouTube page has over 4,000 views, in which he's recorded videos of himself singing and playing covers by popular artists such as John Mayer and Chris Daughtry. His commenters have commended him on his singing talent, but Alamiri said he is more focused on the guitar. “I see myself as more of a guitar player than a singer,” he said, evaluating his approach to music. “I love singing and I enjoy it very much but, for various reasons, I haven't really been focusing on writing songs with lyrics.” The struggles of recording and performing in Saudi Arabia do not all revolve around genre. Alamiri listed a lack of professionals and equipment as some of the major hindrances musicians in the Kingdom face. “When we recorded in Riyadh, I was playing in a band and it was our own studio that we had built,” Alamiri said. The studio he was referring to was a home-studio built in Riyadh in 2006, when Alamiri was playing in a heavy metal band. The studio cost a considerable amount of money to build, soundproof and furnish with recording equipment. “We didn't have the proper resources – it was a trial and error thing. We didn't really have any references when it came to recording but we kept trying and did it for the fun of it and we tried to capture our music the way we imagined it. We were looking for anyone who could help us but we didn't find anybody,” he said. In the States, Alamiri said, the task of recording was much easier: “Out there in the States, the minute I decided I wanted to record I searched the web for studios in Toledo and a bunch of studios came up. I read reviews and checked their websites and I decided to give them a call.” “It's easy: you have a professional doing that for a living (producing and engineering) working with you. They have the proper equipment and everything you need is right there. All you have to do is just go, play and enjoy your time,” he added. He described the recording scenario in Riyadh as a musician's struggle to quickly learn how to be a producer and sound engineer experienced in the physical equipment necessary for the recording process as well as the software-based task of editing, mixing and mastering an album. “You don't really even have the proper equipment, or at least the variety that someone might need, here in Riyadh,” he added. In Riyadh, the largest store that sells musical equipment and instruments: Al-Dawaliyah Music, has come under criticism from various musicians throughout the years for their lack of variety and services. Most recently, Al-Dawaliyah was criticized by a Saudi keyboard player for not staffing competent musicians who can handle and demonstrate their equipment but, instead, employing generic salesmen who knew very little about the extremely specialized gear they were selling. Al Dawaliyah would not comment on these criticisms, which also include a lack of brand variety. As of the date of this story's publication, Al-Dawaliyah supplies only a handful of instruments, equipment and accessory brands, paling in comparison even with the neighboring United Arab Emirates' largest musical instrument retailer, Musician's Warehouse Dubai, which supplies over 40 brands of instruments and accessories. Though these challenges are enough to discourage any musician in the region from pursuing their goals, Alamiri's situation is even more demanding due to his busy schedule as a physician. “Work is a must, so that isn't something that I can really compromise, but my social life takes the hit for that,” Alamiri said about his training and work at various hospitals in Chicago, Ohio and, soon, in Oklahoma. “I have been investing a lot of time, ever since I was in school and college in just playing. I didn't really go out that much because I wanted to play and I didn't really have any other time to play. Sometimes I even play at the expense of my sleep.” In 2009, Alamiri's sleepless nights paid off in the form of a gig at a compound in Riyadh. It was the first time Alamiri had performed solo in front of an audience, but it was far from a celebratory affair. “I had a good time while it lasted. There were problems with the Hai'a, or at least that's what we thought when we were at the venue,” he said about the performance. “Everything was set. People showed up and we started playing, everyone was having fun and then – out of the blue – the organizers called it off and asked people to leave,” he said, adding that his set was cut short and other performers were not even able to take the stage. In the same year, local fans of rock and metal music put together a show at a compound and announced the gig on Facebook. Several bands were scheduled to perform at the event and the show saw the largest turnout of any such gig in the region. A Saudi rock ‘n' roll singer, going by the name Trip Loon, currently residing in New York City, had bought a ticket for that event but was denied entry by the organizers, without the prospect of a refund, because he was 20 minutes late. “I'm glad I didn't get in. It was a disaster,” he said. Loon explained that the event was cancelled early, organizers faced prosecution and jail terms and several attendees were taken in by the Hai'a for questioning. The organizers of the event could not be reached for comment but it is uncertain what became of them after the event was the target of a smear campaign on online religious forums where many accused them of taking part in devil worship and violent rituals. “It takes the fun out of music,” Alamiri said on the issue. “I want to share my music with people and enjoy it. I don't want to feel like I have to do everything in secrecy, like I'm breaking some sort of law. It shouldn't be that way.” When asked if Alamiri would pursue a tour of live performances in the US, where musicians have more freedoms, Alamiri said: “I have considered it, but unfortunately that's not an option due to my work.” Alamiri, who is starting his residency training in July, said his medical career is his priority despite the performance of his album. “I do love my career and I enjoy it tremendously. If I abandon my medical career, I cannot stay there. I'd have to come back here, then I'd have to do everything on my own, not to mention that I cannot be a professional musician here doing what I want to do, unless I compromise and start doing things that I don't enjoy.” “I will always love medicine more than music,” he concluded. With all the challenges young musicians face here in the Kingdom, including persecution by different levels of authority, many musicians tend to avoid speaking publicly with the media. When asked why he doesn't shy away from media attention, Alamiri said: “I did for many years. I didn't benefit a bit from shying away from the media. I couldn't see any harm that would happen to me if I exposed, or at least talked about, my music in public. “As long as we keep shying away from the media, that means we're non existent.” Alamiri is one of many who believe things are changing in the Kingdom, with more freedoms being introduced and more attention given to artists. The Kingdom, through the eyes of artists and musicians, is very different from what it was ten years ago and many, like Alamiri, don't feel the same level of fear or shame of publicity they felt when they were younger.
