Outlandish

Hip-Hop

Outlandish are a multi-award winning hip-hop group based in Denmark. Formed in 1997, they consist of Isam Bachiri (born in Denmark and of Moroccan background), Waqas Ali Qadri (born in Denmark and of Pakistani background), and Lenny Martinez (from Honduras). All three members are devoutly religious, Isam and Waqas being Muslims, and Lenny being Catholic. The band members live in Brøndby Strand. History Outlandish's hip-hop/R&B/soul music sound takes influences from their various backgrounds (Moroccan/Arab/Amazigh, Pakistani/Punjabi and Latin American), and although their songs are primarily in English, they usually feature lyrics in Spanish, Urdu/Punjabi, Danish, and Arabic. All these influences make the music of Outlandish somewhat unique and this is easy to notice from the variety of genres covered in their albums. Outlandish often include themes about Islam and contemporary issues facing young Muslims in the west in their music, and sometimes their songs define a unique nasheed-like urban genre. Their first single Pacific To Pacific was used in connection with an Amnesty International charity event. Next came the single Saturday Night, a song that was later to be included on the soundtrack for the Danish movie Pizza King. These singles were the prelude to their first album, Outland's Official (2000), which was only released in Denmark. The hit song Walou was later included on their second album Bread & Barrels of Water. Singles from their second album made the most impact on the international music charts. Hit singles included Aicha (first made famous by Khaled) which made it to number one in Germany, and received a lot of airplay across many Asian countries, especially in South Korea[1]. The video to Aicha also won a best music video award. Guantanamo also made a strong impression on the European charts. An old Hindi chorus running through Peelo made it a smash hit amongst Indians living in the West. The Danish music contemporaries Majid and Burhan G feautured heavily on the first album and to a lesser extent on the second and third. Closer Than Veins Closer Than Veins (2005) is Outlandish's third album. The first single was Look Into My Eyes. The song's lyrics are based on a poem by Gihad Ali, a Palestinian who wrote the piece when she was a teenager; the poem expresses the plight of those suffering from America’s foreign policy with regards to Israel and Palestine. The video is based around the fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood. It portrays ...