UAE musician Hamdan El Abri and Lebanese bassist, producer and composer Elie Afif’s friendship spans ten years, and their collaborations included work with various bands like Abri and Funk Radius. With both musicians coming from diverse musical backgrounds and constantly shapeshifting their artistic fingerprint, they embarked on a new project - an EP entitled Mallam - inspired by artists like flying lotus and Robert Glasper which in fact ended producing something entirely original and arguably their best work (both collectively and independently) to date. Mallam is a simplification of the Arabic and Swahili word for ‘teacher’ and it deals with the notion of finding and understanding oneself, and how that relates to one’s surroundings and the world. There’s no doubt that this release is an obvious coming of age for both artists.
