Right before the world renowned Lebanese-Armenian artist Guy Manoukian was to go on stage and electrify the audience with a unique blend of English, Arabic and Greek musical styles, he sat down with tabloid! for a quick chat.
"This is not the first time that I've played in Abu Dhabi but it's the first time that I play in a jazz festival. I've played in many jazz festivals around the world, including Dubai, but I really like the atmosphere tonight from what I'm seeing so far," he said.
Guy's ability to fuse modern Arabic music with jazz and fusion has won him critical acclaim. He recently collaborated with Wycleaf Jean on the track On Tour and revealed how that came to be.
"I met Wycleaf about a year and a half ago and we instantly clicked. He liked my music and I'm a big fan of his. When we were introduced, it was in the correct manner and the first song I'm going to play tonight is the On Tour record. But I privately call it the 'Aloosh' track after Ali Madwagh – an extraordinary musician. One night while I was playing it and he asked what I was planning to call it so I told him that I was going to call it Ali," he said, laughing.
When asked whether he ever contemplated singing on any of his musical tracks, he replied: "I'm a composer and performer. The feeling of accomplishment that I receive from a successful track is unmatchable. It's very different to be able to make people hyped up on music alone."
One thing Guy firmly believes in is that people should follow their dreams not matter what because even if they fail because the biggest risk a person could take is not to risk anything at all.
