On August 31st, singer, songwriter and producer Adam Al Riyami (Adam Nabeel for his followers) hosted a Listening Party at Graffiti Burger, inviting friends and music aficionados to preview his grand project ‘Downtime’, which brings to fore his musical genius as a young artist with verve and panache to excel.
Scheduled to be launched this month, the debut album – Downtime – will be available on all (Apple Music, Spotify, Anghami, Tidal, etc) streaming platforms. The Listening Party was an exercise in creating awareness of the growing tide of talent among young Omanis. As Adam explains, “I want to encourage all musicians and artists in Oman that it is possible to put yourself on… I want to see more events like these; more album launches, more artistic panel discussions, more people investing in their craft.”
The production process started a couple of years ago when his musical leanings took precedence over all else. “For the last few years, I really wanted to find my voice and create my own sound. I started by going on YouTube, trying to find beats that I could sing over…but I never landed one that I could connect with. So, for the last one year I have been teaching myself how to produce my own beats and personalise it so that it sounds more like me,” notes Adam, who is currently in his final year of Engineering in the UK.
He practiced on his production every day, before moving to singing over the track and working on his song writing skills.
Without realising it, I was spending close to all of my time in my bedroom at the university hostel, working on my music.
Things came to a conclusive end when he met a talented Dubai-based producer, who goes by the name A’ Y The Producer. He pushed Adam to develop his sound and helped him take his music to the next level. “Today, a year later, I have come to complete my Debut EP titled ‘Downtime’; a project consisting of six songs,” explains Adam, pointing out that he chose the title ‘Downtime’ because he felt it really described the process of putting the project together.
Adam’s musical foray began when he started learning to play the guitar at the age of seven. Recalling those early days, he says, “Back then my inspiration to play the guitar came from one of my favourite guitarists to date – Carlos Santana.” He grew up listening to RnB music of the likes of Usher, R.Kelly, Mario, Omarion… But as far as his kind of music is concerned, he maintains that he wouldn’t limit himself to a specific genre. Having said that though, he experimented with RnB/Soul, and he says he is “confident in the sounds I am creating in this project.”
For more updates on Adam’s music and collaborations, follow him on Instagram @adamnabeelmusic. (Photo credits: Kumar Chand @‘four.30am’)
