As the band looks forward to bouncing back with their latest album, Outlandish member Waqas Ali Qadri talks about their songs and their shows

Known to funnel ‘socialistic issues’ through their music, when they come together for and with their latest album, Sound of a Rebel, it is a different contention they recount altogether.

Voicing their rebellious attitude ‘towards our internal differences,’ the Danish hip-hop band Outlandish, which after years of taking on the world were on the edge of a break-up are back with their fourth album and concerts. Isam Bachiri, Lenny Martinez and Waqas Ali Qadri currently touring the country are set to mesmerise the city tonight.

With the albums, Outland’s Official, Bread & Barrels of Water and Closer than Veins, as well as several solos and collaborations to their credit, the group decided to start afresh and scrapped their individual works of over 18 months, including 25 tracks. “We chose to get together for Sound of a Rebel, which stands out and deviates from our earlier albums and is deep-felt. The inspirations are hip-hop, soul and world music. The first single Rock All Day is about breaking the routines that we found ourselves in all this while. Keeping aside religion and politics, the album is more about us and observations from around us,” says Waqas.

Organised in association with Vh1 channel, Outlandish teams up with producers Frederik TAO (eight numbers), Bichi from Blue Foundation, Troo L S and Louis Winding. While Martinez is of Cuban and Honduran descent, Isam Bachiri has Moroccan background and Waqas Ali Qadri has roots in Pakistan. Bespeaking the diversity in their music too, although it’s majorly hip-hop, the group also derives inspirations from Pakistani, Hindi Moroccan, Amazigh as well as Arabic music. “Our compositions are more socialistic, they talk about the society at a ground level rather than viewing it through a political perspective; our lyrics are derived from our experiences and are realistic enough to relate to. We believe music can play a part in igniting a change in people and a very important part in uniting them,” adds Waqas.

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