As you might imagine, most of the work of a forensic musicologist takes place behind necessarily closed doors due to commercial sensitivities. Once in a while a project I’m working on makes it to a courtroom, and if the media writes about it, my involvement is out there in the public domain (here’s an article about a current case involving Jay-Z and Timbaland in the SDNY courts). But most of the time, it’s all NDAs and ‘Privileged and Confidential’ emails.
So on the rare occasions a project goes public, it’s nice to be able to share it. One such occasion was this week, with the launch of Expo 2020. I was brought in as a consultant musicologist, to review their theme song, and to help with the piano arrangement of the sheet music (along with my good friend and colleague Simon Troup of Digital Media Art UK).
The song is called This Is Our Time. It’s an anthem to global unity, sung in English and Arabic, and it was recorded in Dubai, Macedonia, Egypt, the UK, and Las Vegas. The sheet music is going to be available at the event itself, and eventually for download. Considering that so much of my consultancy work involves musical disputes and conflicts, it was very refreshing to be part of such a joyfully uncontroversial project. Here’s the video. Listen out for the whole-step key change at [3:35] – possibly a Eurovision influence!
Verse 1
Follow me
One voice, one family
The world as it stands,
in the palm of our hands
it’s our time
Verse 2
Take a seat
To the greatest show you’ll ever see
We’ve come so far
but the future is ours to decide
what we need
Bridge 1
We’ve got to all come together
Let’s join our voice
It’s now or never
We are the next generation to strive
For a new day
Chorus 1
This our time
هذا وقتنا
This is the moment we have to decide
It’s time to stand up and vow
To be what the world needs now
This our time
هذا وقتنا :All
This is the moment we open our eyes
If we can dare to believe
And wake up to find
This Day
This is our time.
Verse 3
يا هلا بالكل
بحبكم نكمل
نيتنا وهمتنا نجدد قصتنا
ونكمل
Verse 4
نتأمل والكون يلهمنا أن نعمل
ونعيش اليوم الفكرة
ونشوفها بكرة
مستقبل
Bridge 2
أبدع لا تسأل عن أي حدود
قادر تتخيل؟ بأفكارك جود
هذا احنا جيل العالم موجود
قدها وقدود
Chorus 2
This our time
هذا وقتنا
This is the moment we have to decide
It’s time to stand up and vow
To be what the world needs now
هذا وقتنا
This our time
بإبداع نعبر
ونأثر ونغير
أفكار كثير تجمعنا
وتزيد قوتنا محبتنا ارادتنا
هذا وقتنا
Bridge 3
أبدع لا تسأل عن أي حدود
قادر تتخيل؟ بأفكارك جود
We are the next generation to strive
For a new day
Chorus 3
This our time
هذا وقتنا
This is the moment we have to decide
It’s time to stand up and vow
To be what the world needs now
هذا وقتنا
This our time
بإبداع نعبر
ونأثر ونغير
أفكار كثير تجمعنا
وتزيد قوتنا محبتنا ارادتنا
This our time
Performed by:
Hussain Al Jassmi
http://bit.ly/HussainAlJassmiYT
Almas
https://bit.ly/3CrcYNX
Mayssa Karaa
https://linktr.ee/mayssamusic
Music Credits:
Writer/Producer/Keyboards and Guitars
Joseph Dickinson
Writer/Backing Vocals
Lucy Torchia
Arabic Lyricst
Saif Fadhel
Executive Producers
Greg Wells
Matthew Faddy
Executive Producer – Expo 2020 Dubai
Chris Atkins
Mix/Mastering Engineer
Kevin Churko
Emirati Percussion
Samir Abdulla
Arabic String arrangements
Haitham Saadoon
Sound Engineers
Matthew Faddy
Majed Saleh
Arabic Strings
Tamer Faizy
Orchestral Strings
FAME’S Project
Orchestral String Arrangement
Dzijan Emin
Backing Vocals
Matthew Clanton
Children’s Choir
The Fridge
Consultant Musicologist
Joe Bennett
Recorded at
The Hideout Studio, Las Vegas
BKP, Dubai
Fenun Al Emarat, Dubai
FAME’S, Macedonia
Sout Almusiqa Studio, Egypt
Juicy Studios, UK
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