Arqam: Velvet Vox

The Emirati soul singer talks about going vegan, how he started singing, and learning to love his voice

Arqam considers himself a bit of a late bloomer as a singer, which is surprising considering he his father and brother are musicians. He grew up around music and multiple instruments.

“I got into singing in my 30s. I used to hold bathroom concerts and that was it. But I realised singing came about when I was searching for a purpose. I wasn’t happy in my corporate life; it wasn’t like I was I wasn’t making enough money or anything, it was the lack of fulfilment. It didn’t make sense to me to look at myself 10 years down the line and still go through all that stress. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the job, but it just wasn’t fulfilling,” he said.

So he left and started working in sustainability because it meant helping people and doing good in the environment, and eventually, he made the choice to go vegan “just for a month or two” but kept going because he felt amazing, but also because the meat industry is one of the biggest contributors to pollution.

JUST DO IT
Through a series of events, he started singing. “I sort of hated my voice as well, because I was comparing myself to the greats like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and Boyz 2 Men because I don’t sound like them. Let’s be very honest, sometimes we have an illusion, or maybe even a delusion of who we are, how we sound, how we dance, and I don’t want to have the delusion that I sound better than I actually do. I decided until I was satisfied with how I sounded, I was going to keep to myself,” said Arqam, adding “But I also know you just have to start, and that’s what I did. I posted a video of myself singing in the car on Instagram just on Facebook and it just snowballed from there.”

In 20217, he felt confident enough to try an open mic night, warning the organiser that he had never done anything like that before. He got up and gave an acapella rendition of A Change will Come. He didn’t have a band or instruments but was shocked that people still liked it. That made him decide to keep going.

An avid poet at school, Arqam has made the crossover to writing his own lyrics. “The first song I wrote was called Growth, and it kind of fit and I am really proud of it because it was my first song and I also learned how to mix and master myself. It the first step that led me to such a beautiful place,” he said.

He now works with a band, usually made up of the same members. But in the event where somebody needs to fill in, Dubai has a great freelancer community so he has the people he can call when he needs them.

“I met a lot of them from the open mics because a lot of them play open mics or at the big jam sessions.  For me, soul isn’t just a genre it’s the idea of music as well. Music has to have a purpose; it has to have a message. I’d rather talk about something meaningful that leaves something behind. If you listen to the classics, like Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry, everybody knows that song, and we’re 40 years on since he died,” said Arqam.

Arqam focuses on music with substance that touches the soul and opens people up to being vulnerable, which he thinks is important, particularly for men. “I think the problem is we have this idea of muscularity that was created by people who were scared to be hurt in the first place. Crying is an emotion just like laughing; it’s the same thing. When something hurts, I mean really, really hurts you can cry. There’s nothing wrong with that. Crying is just as valid as laughter,” he said.

Arqam is also an ambassador for the Fred Hollows Foundation, an international development organisation operating in over 25 countries that works to eradicate blindness in third-world countries. The organisation helps to create a sustainable system of care in the communities that need it most, while ensuring everyone has access to high-quality, affordable eye health.

This article appeared in Issue 002 – the Men’s Edition