So recently I had the privilege of attending Rashdan Harith’s album launch at Urbanattic,Capsquare in KL.His 7 song ‘mini’ album titled Revelations and A Cup of Coffee is now up for grabs.
Rashdan had a very encouraging launch in which he featured special performances by An Honest Mistake and Reza Salleh.Many were present to celebrate the launch of in my opinion a very refreshing album by a singer/songwriter.
I am not sure how many of you know Rashdan so here’s a little bit about him.
Rashdan grew up in a house filled with music (his father plays the clarinet and his sister plays the piano) Rashdan’s love for music started young listening to the likes of the great late Tan Sri P Ramlee, Nat King Cole, Sinatra and exploring the angst of youth with Nirvana, Limp Bizkit as well as embracing his inner romantic with the likes of Backstreet Boys and N’Sync… yes, Rashdan liked boy bands!
After a brief stint learning the piano he eventually settled down on the guitar and tried his luck at songwriting. What resulted was a 5 song demo under the moniker of T.R.A.K that sold roughly 500 copies and achieved substantial downloads on mp3.com when he was 18, shortly after Rashdan left to read Law in the UK studying in Cardiff, Wales. While there, he continued writing songs. Upon his return in 2008 he tried his luck at a few open mics around town , some of which were The Bedroom Musician Series alongside Mia Palencia as well as the Doppleganger Open Mic, constant rounds at the open mics opened some doors for Rashdan within the singer/songwriter scene and was soon performing at shows such as Moonshine at Laundry and The Apartment, Live at No Black Tie, Fete De La Musique, Time Out: On The Up, Cloth and Clef, Celcom UOX Play, and Groove Junction.
In 2009, he was invited to perform for the first ever Voize Independent Music Awards and was also the first singer-songwriter chosen for Friedchillies.tv’s first episode of their music cooking show “I Eat Music”, performances in Fly FM’s Campur Chart Goes Live, Fly FM’s Playa Got Game and Urbanscapes 2009 soon followed. Rashdan has also been featured in The Malay Mail, Time Out KL, as well as Voize. Rashdan then took a quick break to focus on recording his mini album. Together with his band, “Revelations and a Cup of Coffee” is a collection of 7 original songs written by Rashdan was released in August 2009.
The first single “Matahari” received airplay in Fly FM’s Campur Chart for 7 weeks with a peak position of No.2. Rashdan will soon release his second single “Gadis Jalanan”
In the past year , Rashdan’s blend of pop, soul, funk and the blues and his reputation of giving out fun, energetic shows both as a solo performer along with his band and his powerful voice has earned him a thumbs up amongst local music fans.
Rashdan currently works full time as a management consultant and is also an actor.
So that was the ‘little bit’ of Rashdan.
I had the chance of asking Rashdan a few details on the recording process and according to him it was long and hard work.He started recording sometime in March last year.He recruited a some familiar names in the scene to form his band.He had Julian (Jahz Disciples, Slunk), Shanjeev Reddy (Ask Me Again) and Asaph Lerburn (Rashdan’s guitar teacher) to form the core of the band.
They spent 2 months in the studio fine tuning their songs ad out of the 15 to 20 songs he had written Rashdan chose, Gadis Jalanan, Matahari, Frozen Bar and some other songs he had written previously.
One of the songs in the album “Keep Your Shirt On” features local rock outfit Ask Me Again.I personally love this song because i’m a rock kind of guy and this song is a whole lot of rock.Rashdan’s vocals for this song is off the hook.
Rashdan also emphasizes on making his live performances different from the recordings.This I saw at the launch.It was intimate,personal,fun and at the same time full of quality.
I do not want to bore you further with all this ramblings but please do get a copy of this album.Worth every cent.
Like the title says, Rashdan has a lot of soul.You will definitely enjoy the freshness he brings.
If you want a copy of this awesome mini album you can reach him at rashdan.harith@gmail.com or at his Facebook page.
Here are some pictures of him and the album cover.
