Octave band: The story behind the music

In a chat with Octave band,They presents their story, their view on the music scene, and their hopes and goals. 

Octave band which consists of, the founder, Ahmad Selawy, guitarists Amr Kh and Amjad Mestarehi, drummer, Hrag Mouradian, bassist Ramez Haddadein and keyboardist Ra’ed Khader.

When asked how the band started, Selawy shared: “I started the band because I play folk instruments, and I always dreamt of folk music and our heritage to reach the stage.”

He added: “I wanted the heritage to be played on stage, with its instruments, lyrics, melodies, and we ended up finding each other to start the band, with each member having their own story in joining Octave band.”

Abumuhor asked: “How do you manage to maintain a social life while dedicating all your time to the band and music, how do you make it happen?”

Amr responded: “Of course, we have a social life, we are friends, we are our friend group, we are not just a band, we are best friends.”

Selawy went on to talk about what makes Octave band unique, and different in their own way, he penned: “We play folk music and instruments, that are not as recognized as before, we play it with a new style, a rock style.”

He added: “With our blend of traditional music filled with heritage with a mix of rock, young listeners can enjoy the music, and older audience can enjoy the lyrics of the songs and the melodies.”

Mestarehi explained: “Each person in our band is a unique person in their own way, each member has their own style to add to the Octave band, but the main reason why we are unique is that we manage to blend folk music with rock and western music.”

Selawy revealed that they will “hopefully be releasing a new album before the year ends.”

Amr shared: “We are hoping to play shows and do a tour in Europe, and the tours we did before we were entirely independent, as we did everything ourselves, from funding to organizing, that is the relationship status of us, an independent band.”

He added: “We are looking forward to going to Europe, that is our style, we want to show people from the outside our heritage and folk instrument, we want to mix our folk music with a type of music that is familiar to people from outside the Arab world.”

Khader penned: “The music sounds unique and not alien in a way, and just like Amr said, the familiarity in the mix can help them understand the music more.”

Abumuhor asked if the music scene in Jordan is offering support, Haddadein responded: “I’m new to the music scene, but for me, I always thought of music in Jordan as a risk financially, it is putting one’s passion, energy, creativity in a place that is not certain, but surprisingly, there is support, but we do need more.”