Rocking high: Immaqul8

According to sleep experts, we are all either larks or owls - the former are active all day and sleep at night while the latter's day begins at sunset.

Ash (Abdul Sammir Hamman) and Hanoz Navdar belong to this second group.

When most people are preparing to retire for the night, these two artists start getting busy. What are they up to? For one, they have just had a major hit on MTV and are now busy working on their next album.

Their group, called Immaqul8, is Ash's brainchild and he has registered it in the UK, US and UAE.

Creative/managing director Navdar is the ‘backbone' of the company, says Ash. Of course, there're others in the team - Graham Magoffin (business manager), Tarek Wafi (violinist, rapper), J1 (producer), Amin NuFox (producer), Ope (producer), Remedy (rapper), Osman Manir (animator), Chykay (artiste), Bidemi (PRO and rapper who goes by the name Scribe) who form the creative team of Immaqul8.

I met some members of the group at a coffee shop in Dubai and was not surprised when some staff who worked there recognised Ash and stopped by to ask when their next album would be out. After all, Ash performed live during the 2002 Miss World Beauty Pageant, has a large fan base in Dubai, London and Nigeria and his album I'm Sorry notched up close to 80,000 views within the first year, without any promotion or studio backing. He's also performed alongside renowned artists like Akon, Usher and 2Face.

Potential in Dubai

Ash, a Nigerian, has the personality of a rapper and in fact, he started out as one until he realised that he was best at R&B and Soul. Having had successful gigs in the UK and US, he was intrigued when his mother (who is based in the UAE) asked him to come down to Dubai.

She thought he might just be surprised with the music scene here. Within the first week of landing on UAE shores, his songs were aired on a local radio station and he had many fans calling in, requesting for the sound track.

"I realised that there was tremendous potential for growth here. I checked out the clubbing scene and met up with a few like-minded folks and knew that this is where I wanted to work. I decided to improve my technical background and joined SAE, the School for Audio Engineering at Knowledge Village, to study courses in audio and videography and graphic design.''

Here he met Hanoz Navdar who was a part-time lecturer at SAE and who was taking one of the courses Ash had signed up for. "I'd often see him sitting around after classes and would wonder about this dude who looked always so chilled out."

I'm Sorry

Navdar picks up the thread. "After completing my course at SAE I got restless and began looking for options," says Navdar. "I started writing my script for a short film for DIFF, which I then put on hold since I got busy with freelance work and supervising at SAE... then I met Ash. When I used to see him around in SAE I used to think he was a rapper, but was very surprised when I heard him sing the first time.''

A common friend named Dan told Ash about Navdar's interests "and we met up".

"Ash played I'm Sorry and I was impressed. That's actually the reason I left everything and joined him. I saw a lot of potential in him. Also, this way [joing hands with Ash] I could also fulfil my desire of working on a creative project that I myself would love to be a part of. That was the whole point of me getting into the creative field... to be a part of something I've always loved - music and film," says Navdar.

Ash and Navdar got together professionally and made their first video You within the first week of meeting up. Six months down the line they worked on I'm Sorry as part of a visual effects project for SAE. Almost all those who saw it liked it, which encouraged them to shoot a few more scenes and turn it into a full-fledged music video, which was quickly picked up by MTV Arabia.

For I'm Sorry, Ash was videographed singing in front of a green screen, which Navdar, using his computer skills transformed into a splendid background with amazing effects. The rest of the shooting was freestyle - a few scenes were shot at a penthouse and on the beach, with the voice injection done later. The song made it to the World Chart Number 7!

Ash wrote the lyrics and Salomon Ligthelm played the guitar, while Tariq Wafi played the violin (he is a rapper who also raps in German).

The female lead singer backed out on the day of the shoot and they were left with no option but to improvise. This saw them pick their female lead just a few hours before they did the video shooting!Soul Lounge

Even as they were enjoying their success, they were busy fine-tuning their next projects. Lyrics were being written, tunes hummed and the whole gamut was being played out again. Along the way they realised that there were very few places where they could get together and do just the kind of music they wanted to - where they could connect with their music soul.

Club nights were an option for those who wanted to go clubbing, but there was a lacuna for people like them and they wanted to do something about it. After a lot of brainstorming, Immaqul8 came up with the concept of Soul Lounge.

The idea was to create a place where people could chill out, enjoy the soothing candle-lit atmosphere, listen to live music, sometimes have a guitar playing in the background or poetry being read - a place where mature minds could meet.

They decided to encourage local talent and also get international acts flown in. Held at the Warehouse, Le Meridien, Garhoud on the third Wednesday of every month, the Soul Lounge nights became an instant hit. Often when live performances are over, DJ David Craig takes over and plays soul, motown and funk music nonstop. They are now planning to do a Yacht Night Soul Lounge Exclusive and promise it will be an experience like no other. In keeping with the trend, they announce events on Facebook.

Not in a rush…

What has them really excited, though, is their next big project - All a Lie, a music video in the pre-production stage. The audio is being recorded. It is expected to be released by December on MTV Arabia, Africa, Europe and the US. Ash and Navdar are stepping away from everything that they both have done before. It is a blend of R&B and Rock and pure Ash. With a poignant story line and Ash's raw silk voice it is bound to connect viscerally with the listener.

Navdar's creativity and video wizardry will ensure that it becomes their best work ever. Ash's music touches a chord with music lovers.

After All a Lie, You Deserve is next on the anvil. It's about Ash's friend and is his way of telling her that she has made a difference in his life.

Unlike some young talents who are in a rush to get their work out, the Immaqul8 artists aren't in a rush. They believe in their talent and their music. Any wonder there is a long list of folks wanting to sponsor their work. With camera sponsorships and grey commercials in the offing, they are biding their time and waiting to identify people with whom they will have a long-term commitment and get more famous together.

For more information visit www.YouTube.com/Immaqul8TV, www.Immaqul8.com or www.Facebook.com/Ash.Hamman