Mohammad Haddad is a Bahraini composer and music critic. An active artist in the music scene of Bahrain and a leading composer in the film scores of Bahraini films. But unlike most musicians, it’s quite rare to find a pure addicted soul that breathes, speaks and eats music, in all its forms and genres, regardless where it came from, all that matters is that it brings pleasure to his ears. He was only 7 when he whispered his lifetime wish to his parents: “I wanna become a musician”. He picked up the Keyboard at the age of 8 and quickly became the leading player in his primary school’s music band. He then picked up the Lute and made it his major instrument until he flew to Cairo to pursue a degree in music composition and conducting at the Cairo Conservatory of Music, focusing on the Piano.

​

Armed by a very western Piano in one hand, and an extremely eastern Lute in the other, with enough power to bridge the gap between the two worlds of east and west, although it was never his intention to do so. He’s only here to explore as much as he can from this life, with music as his energy and love as his religion.

So taken by the idea of composing music for the screen, Mohammed Haddad drew from western classical, traditional Arabic, dramatic and ethnic tunes to create a considerable body of adventurous work in his brief career until today. His music showcased his extraordinarily low-key, melodic, yet rich compositions for critically acclaimed Bahraini films like “A Bahraini Tale”, “Absence”, “Mraimy”, “Cage”, “A Dinner”, sounding like a cross between Zbigniew Preisner and George Winston.

​

His influence on the music scene in Bahrain is subtle but significant, before starting his career as a music composer for films, Haddad had secured a position at the University of Bahrain, Bahrain’s biggest academic institution, as the music specialist and the head of the Music club at the University, almost every sparking musical talent from generation “Y” in Bahrain must had come across him. He wanders at the University’s aisles and you see students gather all around him like a moving flame that brings hope and laughter, even those who are musically deaf, they still gather at the music club everyday just to grasp that positive vibe of Haddad.

The one person I would think of to symbolize the Bahraini youthful and fruitful soul. Even when dust settles in this little island of Bahrain, Haddad’s music has all the potential to stand still …

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          by Ala Ghawas