Mohammed Haddad () (born 2 October 1975) is a Bahraini composer and music critic. He is an active artist in the music scene of Bahrain and a leading composer in the film scores of Bahraini films. He is best known for his work on the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed Bahraini motion picture A Bahraini Tale.
Early life and family
Mohammed Haddad was born on October 2, 1975, in Muharraq, Bahrain, the second child of father Qassim Haddad and Mother Moza Al Shamlan, along with his elder sister Tufool Haddad and younger brother Mahyar Haddad. His father poet Qassim Haddad is an influential cultural figure in Bahrain.
In 1982, when Haddad was seven years old, he told his parents that he wanted to study music and become a musician. Picked up the Keyboard at the age of 8 and quickly became the leading musician in his primary school's music band. When he moved to his intermediate school at the age of 12, he picked up the Oud and made it his major instrument until he flew to Cairo to pursue a degree in music, where he studied music composition and conducting at the Cairo Conservatory of Music, focusing on the Piano.
Upon his return to Bahrain from Cairo in 2001, he secured a position as the music specialist and the head of the Music club at the University of Bahrain.
In 2005, he married the architect Maysam Al Nasser.
Education
In 2000, Haddad had obtained his bachelor's degree in Music composition and conducting with an honors with distinction degree from the Cairo Conservatory of Music, Academy of Art, Egypt.
Between those seven years 1993 - 2000, Haddad studied score-reading, orchestration and conducting under maestro Ahmed El-Saedi, counterpoint and music analysis under professor Awatef Abdel Karim and composition basics under Ahmad Abdulla, Mona Ghoneim and Rageh Dawood.
In 1997, while Haddad was enrolled in his bachelor program in Cairo, he also participated in Bahrain in a musical workshop for Oud under the supervision of the Iraqi musician Naseer Shamma.
Achievements
Upon his return from his educational journey in Cairo, Haddad was immediately involved in the art scene in Bahrain. In 2000, he composed the music for the play “Three Girls…Harem” right after his graduation. And continued composing the music and sound effects for a number of plays afterward including, “Wedding Night” in 2001, “Adhari” and “Life Is Not Very Serious in Its Bits and Pieces” in 2003, “At Midnight” in 2004 and “News of the Mad Lover” in 2005.
Also, in 2005, while he was in a visit to Scotland, he composed music for the experimental animation “Emotion in Motion”- project by Hiba Aboulhosn, Edinburgh College of Art.
By the year 2006, Haddad had established himself as one of Bahrain's rising music composers, the same year he was assigned by Bahraini film director Bassam Al-Thawadi to compose the score of the Bahrain motion picture A Bahraini Tale. The movie received excellent reviews all around the Persian Gulf region.
2008 was a productive year for Haddad, he composed the score for six independent films, “Future Vision”, a documentary directed by Bassam Al-Thawadi, then “A Dinner” directed by Hussain Al-Riffaei, “Absence” directed by Mohammed Bu-Ali, “Yaseen” directed by Jamal Al-Ghailan, then he worked with Emirati director Khalid Al-Mahmood in his short film “Bint al nokhitha”, and his last film in 2008 was “Mraimy” a short film directed by Ali Al-Ali.
Haddad collaborated in two projects with his father, the poet Qassim Haddad, and his photographer sister, Tufool Haddad, “Tarafa” and “Vincent”, each of which resulted in a music CD, a book of poetry and narrative, and an album of art photos. He has also collaborated with a large group of musicians in Bahrain as a music arranger and oud player. One of the most important musicians with whom he worked continuously is Ala Ghawas, where he participated in a number of his albums as a string arranger, pianist and oud player.
Mohammed Haddad had also been writing critical publications about music in several Bahraini newspapers since 1995 until today. He presented a wide range of music workshops and panel discussions in many festivals, including the Spring of Culture Festival in Bahrain, the Gulf Film Festival in the UAE, and the Saudi Film Festival.
Works
Albums
2016 – Vincent
2011 – Tarafa
2006 – A Bahraini Tale
Film scores
2014 – The Sleeping Tree (directed by Mohammed Rashed Buali) 2010 – The Last Days of Yousif (directed by Mohammed Janahi) 2006 – A Bahraini Tale (directed by Bassam Al-Thawadi)