part ii: singer-songwriter

artistic sound & style

The Jordanian singer-songwriter Hana Malhas commits to authenticity and evolution in her creative process. Her body of work is indie alternative songs in Arabic and English, and true to that commitment, it showcases a metamorphosis over time, while still maintaining the raw vulnerability in expression of her original artistic voice. 

 

From acoustic folk sounds; to electro-acoustic pop blends with richer orchestral landscapes; to more pronounced overlaps that intensify electronic blends and high-energy cross-genre arrangements – thanks to producers & co-producers that understood her choice to embrace genre-bending hybrids without losing her core artistic identity.

latest releases

‘Endal Eneed’ (2022) features an addictive oud riff that builds into house drops & head bops that keep you moving while still connecting to the darker solitude of lyrically-driven verse vocals over minimal bass lines. ‘Mazar’ (2022), infuses subtle hip-hop grooves into her folk-rock origins, as the song builds up to an anthemic blues rock chorus.

Press photo Hana Malhas Vintage faux Bil3aks promo shoot
‘MALHAS REMAINS PERCEPTIVE AND GROUNDED. EVEN IN TRACKS LIKE “CODE”, WHICH FLIRTS WITH EXUBERANT DANCE POP AND GLEEFUL ABANDON, THERE IS A THOUGHTFUL, INTROSPECTIVE MELANCHOLY THAT ANCHORS EVERYTHING IN SOMETHING TANGIBLE AND INCREDIBLY REAL…MALHAS HAS INDISPUTABLY EVOLVED, BUT SHE STAYS TRUE TO HERSELF AND RETAINS HER GIFT OF FINDING ‘BEAUTY IN DAMAGE.’– arab news: THE TOP ALTERNATIVE ALBUMS OF 2018 FROM THE ARAB WORLD

“…[MALHAS]’S SONGS ARE BOTH DEEPLY FELT AND FULL OF FRESH IMAGES…A SONG ABOUT A LINGERING ATTRACTION ENDS UNEXPECTEDLY WITH “SOME WORDS ARE ONLY MEANT TO BE SUNG”… MALHAS HAS AN UNUSUAL KNACK FOR USING ELEMENTAL NATURE IMAGES WITH EMOTIONAL RESONANCES (“I CRUMBLE LIKE SALT, AND YOU SINK LIKE A STONE”)…A FEW OF HER SONGS HAVE AMBITIOUS, DARK LYRICS THAT CAN BE READ IN MULTIPLE WAYS.”– JAMES MANHEIM, ANN ARBOR OBSERVER.

lyrical STYLE, THEMES, INFLUENCES

HM is driven by an unrelenting need to freely express what she experiences in realtime. She writes within themes that, at their core, revolve around unfiltered self-awareness, and transformational self-empowerment. Narratives of life’s defining moments that live in the spaces between truth, nostalgia, reality and fantasy.

 

Her writing style has been described as layered, shaping lyrics to hold multiple meanings –  prompting recurring interview questions about their intended message. HM expertly deflects, but openly admits her songs hold her deepest truths and a map of her experiences, leaving the listener free to adopt the songs as their own.

 

HM draws on influences from her Arab roots (as a Jordanian with inter-faith Palestinian and Lebanese ancestry), her childhood classical music training, and her love of lyrically driven alternative songs. 

 

You can also hear the formative influence of a rich music community in Michigan in her earlier acoustic folk releases – a community that inspired her to turn music into a passionate profession.

creative process

Her latest releases are examples of how past creative leaps can become catalysts for songs that follow. ‘Ya Msafer Wahdak’ (2022) is one example. The electro-pop/trip-hop radical remake of the legendary classic led to bolder blended arrangement decisions in the originals that followed. Similarly, ‘Nasi’ (2018), HM’s first original Arabic song, started as a singular experiment that enabled HM to cultivate her own unique sound of an Arabic song, one that she developed to release more Arabic originals. 

 

Evolving artistically without losing the essence of her core singer-songwriter style – a style that earned her earlier demo of ‘How We Love’ (featured on her EP ‘Hana Malhas & the Overthinkers’) a nomination in the Independent Music Awards/Singer-Songwriter category, alongside Passenger’s ‘Let Her Go’. The fully produced version was released years later in 2021, a mournful choir-backed ballad, after multitudes of times performing it live in various arrangements. 

 

HM’s affinity for artistic exploration started early on, when she co-produced a debut album, (full version only available on youtube or limited edition CDs) that was recorded across 2 time zones to feature 18 Jordanian and American musicians of various styles.

in context: background

HM, like all independent Arab artists of her generation, was part of building the regional music scene while also making music and developing artistically, releasing originals before, during and after the major shifts of the industry over the past ten years.

 

They relied on artist-led grassroots initiatives and localized underground networks to overcome the logistical, social/cultural, economic and political challenges of the industry’s fragmented infrastructure. Being resourceful and self-sufficient was a basic requirement for all areas of the profession from recording to promotion but especially with organizing regional tours.

 

HM was one of a handful of independent female artists in Jordan at the time – and a relatively small group regionally – a position that came with its own set of challenges, and a sense of responsibility to contribute to changing that reality. 

 

Unlike her peers though, a third factor also shaped HM’s perspective: living between two very different home bases (Jordan and US) during the first few years as an artist. Perhaps that’s what enabled her to capture the feeling of belonging to everything and nothing all at once through song, and also what encouraged her to carve her own path artistically.

HOW JORDANIAN MUSICIANS ARE FINDING SUCCESS WITH NEW GENRES MADE IN THE MIDDLE EAST’:

“UNTIL NOW, AND SIMILAR TO THE GLOBAL INDUSTRY, THE CONTEMPORARY BAND AND ELECTRONIC LANDSCAPE HAS BEEN LARGELY MALE DOMINATED. THAT SAID, THERE ARE SEVERAL RISING ARTISTS AND BREAKTHROUGH STARS WHO SHOW SIGNS OF LEAVING THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS IN THE DUST. ONE OF THESE IS SINGER-SONGWRITER HANA MALHAS, WHOSE TRACK NASI WAS RECENTLY FEATURED IN UNIVERSAL RECORDS’ MENA COMPILATION, NOW: BEST OF INDIE ARABIA VOLUME II.” – MAHA EL NABAWI, THE NATIONAL