Max Herre and Qusai, hip hop artists from Germany and Saudi Arabia, produced the single “From Berlin to Jeddah” with the help of the German Consulate General, the Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation and the Goethe-Institute.
The single was launched at the residence of German Consul General Rolf Theodor Schuster.
Schuster said: “We are very proud that we have been able to bring together outstanding hip hop artists from Saudi Arabia and Germany. Herre and Qusai did an excellent job in bridging cultures and promoting local talent. The result of this collaboration, is, in my opinion, very impressive.”
The Jeddah Hip Hop Jam, which took place in January, 2013, helped broaden the horizons of what had previously been considered impossible in the cultural landscape of Saudi Arabia, setting new standards in the process.
“The idea behind ‘Jeddah Hip Hop Jam’ took off when I first met some young local hip hop talents from the group ‘Jeddah FAM’ a year ago. Their positive spirit and attitude inspired me to take up this cultural exchange project. The project took off after meeting with Qusai and Herre. They brought the hip hop community together. They translated the experience of this cultural encounter into the this song, which has now been released,” said Christian Strob, cultural attaché and Robert Bosch’s cultural manager.
The song was presented live at the first public hip-hop concert in Saudi Arabia. The closing concert on Jan. 30 was the highlight of the Jeddah Hip Hop Jam.
The emerging groups, Jeddah FAM and Run Junction, performed alongside Herre and Qusai with support from their DJs to an audience of around 600 participants from various backgrounds.
The first German-Saudi hip-hop song “From Berlin to Jeddah” is available online.
The entire emerging Jeddah hip hop scene was brought together for three days of workshops. Around 60 up-and-coming rappers took up the unique opportunity to work with Herre, his DJ, Samon Kawamura, and Qusai, to network, present their own tracks and to showcase their abilities in Arabic-English-German freestyle sessions.
The audible result of this open artistic collaboration is “From Berlin to Jeddah.” From the beats through to the German-Arabic-English lyrics, the track was written, recorded and produced in three days of intensive collaboration between Herre, Kawamura and Qusai, along with the emerging young talent, Jeddah FAM.
The Robert Bosch Cultural Manager Project has been conducted in collaboration with the German Consulate General in Jeddah, the Goethe-Institute in Cairo and the Universal Legends Entertainment in Jeddah.
The song is available on http://youtu.be/Un0m0j0mFHo
