From the deep, urban, bourgeois suburbs of Isa Town comes Silverlake. A fusion of indie rock, slow rock, alternative, acoustic, folk, country, and probably every other mellow genre you can think of. While doing covers for a variety of modern-day artists like Coldplay and Paolo Nutini, Silverlake managed to create their own unique sound, enough for them to receive a round of applause. Playing in various events and open day carnivals, Silverlake have received enough pats on the back to blossom into something more opulent.

‘The Tryout’ started when Mohammed and Faisal got together to jam a few years ago. It wasn’t long before they started writing original tunes.  The band’s songs are mostly, as they see it, a mirror to people’s willingness to come out of a rut and to progress.

As one of Bahrain’s quickly rising photographers, you can’t help taking more than just a quick
glance at Fardan’s photography. Fardans talent was evident at a very young age, starting on
family photos with his father’s camera. However, it wasn’t until a few years back that he started
to take his talent more seriously.  “I always wanted to freeze life, have more time to appreciate
the beauty of a moment, and now I can” says the 27 year old photographer.  Fardan brilliantly
unfolds the changing faces of life and amazingly shows the personality of each of his pictures.

As a poet, Terry has published his book “Narrow Paths”, which chronicled his travels and adventures in life in an honest and lyrical way. He is also an established musician and a jazz enthusiast, having played with bands and musicians across Europe, and recorded several albums. He has also collaborated with other musicians as a songwriter and composer.

Despite his interest in the Oud at a young age, it was not until Hasan went abroad in pursuit of higher education that he felt a need to play it. Hasan links this need to a sense of urgency in rediscovering his heritage and identity. Hasan moved to Tokyo after reiciving a scholarship from the Japanese government in 2005, where he collaborated with a number of artists, and gave performances that included fusing the Oud with Shakuhachi, Austrian Zither, Santur, Koto and Experimental Guitar.

Nader Ameeruddin is a Guitarist, Composer, Sound Engineer and photographer.  He has to his credits works to be proud of, including music for an experimental play “Chocolate Flavored Love”, numerous corporate films, and has preformed every year at the annual music fesitval held at Alliance Francaise de Bahrain.  Nader has participated with Elham on several occasions as a musician and a photographer.

Mariam completed her Fine Arts Degree in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 and has since been very active in the Melbourne art scene.  As part of the Spring of Culture 2009, Mariam has recently had her first solo exhibition at the Albareh Art Gallery in Bahrain.  Her first ever art showcase in Bahrain came during one of Elham’s monthly gatherings.

Indian writer Reena Abraham, who has lived and travelled across the Gulf (here’s that “Across the Gulf” title again), has questioned and even actively explored the Indian presence in Bahrain. She then unravelled to us how the Indian community contributed to the history of Bahrain in her coffee-table book “Footprints in Time”. Ms. Abraham is a reputable writer, and has generously brought forth to us her perspective, gained through many years in our Arab Countries. She will now share this perspective to us Elhamers, and we are delighted to hear her own words, in her own voice. 

Saleh Nass studied television production at Bournemouth Media School in the UK, returning to Bahrain to set up his own film and television production company, Elements, with an aim to producing high-quality, creative adverts, corporate videos and eventually films. ‘I wanted to create a business run by a filmmaker, rather than a company run by a businessman,’ he says.

While in his final year of studies, he created the humorous whodunnit ‘The Body’ showcased by Elham, based loosely on ‘The Hunchback’s Tale’ in the ‘Tales of the 1001 Nights’, in which two hapless policemen are lumped with a body and three suspects telling conflicting stories. Who’s not telling the truth? Although currently subsumed by commercial work he plans to make more short movies in the future.

Omani singer and oud player Mohammed Al-Amri believes that music in all its manifestations is magical, but that people resonate better with certain instruments and styles. For his part, it was love at first embrace when he met the oud. ‘You could say that it’s the only instrument you can hug,’ he says. ‘Because of its rounded shape, you can always feel it when you play and the music connects with your heart and vice versa; this means that the stronger your emotions, the better you will play. Sometimes I can’t express my feelings in words, but I can put them across through music.’ Mohammed’s repertoire includes a mix of well-known songs from around the Arab world, as well as a couple of his own heart-felt compositions.