It’s hard not to feel admiration for singers stepping out of their comfort zones for the sake of pushing boundaries in art and music. Dubai-based Jindi does just that in his newest single ‘Hassa’, produced by Masterkraft, a song that is a cocktail of afrobeats, dancehall, and reggae inflections that the Sudanese trailblazer is not afraid of adapting as his very own.
“Ever since I started my career in music, I wanted to be known as the artist with that international appeal,” Jindi tells SceneNoise. “Whether it’s in the genre selection of music or the message behind my songs, simple lyrics, catchy melodies, and an international standard production on the audio and visuals side of things.”“I was never afraid to experiment and put on different hats from pop and funk to reggae and dancehall, and just recently I’ve tapped into the Afro-Dancehall side,” reveals the musician. “It’s definitely a process of finding a sound and capturing a certain feel.”
Greeting us from the sunny Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the song serves as an ode to the artist's African roots while he sings in Arabic. Standing out rocking both traditional thobes against westernised fits, a new kind of sound is beaming out of Sudan, and it seems to be radiating a contagious vibe of infectiously positive energy.
“Through this song we’ve managed to find a common ground both musically and culturally. I wanted to show a different side of me and evolve musically,” he says, explaining that “the music coming from Africa represents us as a community no matter which part we come from. I consider this song as an introduction to something great and a link between different regions and cultures.”
The multilingual crooner, who switches lyrics between both English and Arabic throughout the track, is lifting up spirits in ways beyond the song’s summery disposition. Quite flashy, to say the least, Jindi melodically narrates his journey from humble beginnings all the way up to where he stands now, telling of his determination to spoil his partner in every possible manner as a self-referring marker of his ongoing success.
"It was definitely challenging for me with everything I’ve done in the past to tap into a completely different style and mix Arabic with English for the first time. In 2021, with all that’s happening around us, I would like to give the world something different. Something that when they listen to it, people stop and be like ‘what does that word mean, I feel like dancing right now’.”
“I really hope that these words from my motherland would reach out to audiences that don’t speak our language but can connect with it," he remarks.
Realised by a talented director, Maimana Alhassan, the short clip follows Jindi from the capital’s notorious Nile Street to dancing around the city’s local markets while performing live and sporting the drip of golden accessories. Hardly his first rodeo at making short music videos of the kind, the song, which can translate to ‘right now’ in Sudanese vernacular, paradoxically invites Jindi to display his first and newest creative challenge, delivering it on a fruity beat which the region’s scene would welcome more of. And to be honest, we want to see it Hassa too.
