There are some songs that are a sign of the times – in the age of corona, the theme must be resilience, the message one of hope. Wim Hoste, UAE-based singer songwriter firmly believed the time has some for just such a tune. And so he devised one. ‘Life is Beautiful’, featuring a multitude of locally situated artists, aims to spark a conversation - of happiness.
“[The] idea [for the song] came during the pandemic. I [wrote] the song 3-4 years ago but it had different lyrics, so I adapted it as per the emotion that was brought about during the pandemic a few months ago,” he tells Gulf News in an interview.
And then the collaborators stepped forward. “There is a long list of artists that participated in the song, [who are] mostly based in Dubai. [There is] Sal the artist (from Oman-Kenya -UAE ), who is a locally based producer and singer and who helped me on the melody and composing of the music [for one].
He goes on to list Clarissa Zaruk, a pianist from Belgium; Marat Kauynbayev, a vocal teacher; Royden Mascadenhas, a guitarist; Russian Ivan Kavalenko and his team Bogdan Solodovnic and TDS records, who remastered the song. The Dubai Bilingual French International School choir also took part in the creation of the song, under the guidance of Bonnie Woolley, he adds.
Hoste says he wanted to reach out to those affected most by the pandemic and those who’ve seen the worst side of things. There is, he says, “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“We are in this together and if we love and support each other, we can get out of this together. I would say remain positive. Life is beautiful, because in spite of everything there are so many things we can be grateful about,” he explains.
The mammoth task of getting a broad spectrum of people to collaborate was of course, he reveals, complicated by the pandemic, with safety becoming a valuable commodity to be protected at all cost. “Three-six months it took from the time I decided to re-do the song,” he says. But he is eager to add that at the end of the day, everyone involved is safe and in good health.
The next step is to create a music video, which, says Hoste, will be directed by Dubai-based Wael Eid.
For now though, he repeats, "Life is Beautiful".
