Legendary Music Producer, Quincy Jones collaborated with Emirati social entrepreneur Badr Jafar, to jointly produce the Arabic charity single entitled ‘TOMORROW/BOKRA’. The song involved 24 leading Arab Artists from 16 nations across the Middle East and North Africa singing with one voice for a better tomorrow.
Global Gumbo Group
Quincy Jones, the multi-Grammy winning producer and multi-media entrepreneur, and Badr Jafar, an Emirati social entrepreneur, entered into a joint venture, The Global Gumbo Group, in 2011 to develop multi-media opportunities across all entertainment platforms including music, film, television, publishing and digital applications in the Middle East and North Africa. The company focus is producing live entertainment opportunities in the Middle East for Western artists in collaboration with renowned Middle East and North African artists. The Global Gumbo Group also look to nurture new Middle Eastern and North African talent, and acquire content from the region to introduce to the West.
The Song
The ‘Tomorrow-Bokra’ single is an Arabic re-adaptation of Quincy Jones’ Grammy-award winning song entitled ‘Tomorrow (A Better You, A Better Me). 24 Arab stars from 16 nations across the Middle East and North Africa feature on the ‘Tomorrow-Bokra’ single, including Kadim Al Sahir who worked on the music adaptation, Marwan Khoury (Lebanon), Sherine Abdel Wahab, Tamer Hosny (Egypt), Saber Rebai, Latifa (Tunisia), Fayez Al Saeed (UAE), Asma Lmnawar, Hayat Al Idrissi, Hasna Zallagh (Morocco), Souad Massi (Algeria), Cheb Jilani (Libya), Diana Karazon, Hani Mitwasi (Jordan), Nassif Zaitoun (Syria), Rim Banna (Palestine), Essa Al Kubaissi, Fahad Al Kubaissi (Qatar), Salah Al Zadjali (Oman), Ahmad Al Jumairi (Bahrain), Waed, Mashael (Saudi Arabia) and Ahmed Hussein (Kuwait). Grammy-nominated international superstar Akon has also lent his vocals to the track, and Shakira, who is of Lebanese descent, also recorded a special introduction to the music video. The music video was directed by American born, Malek Akkad (son of Moustapha Akkad, Director of ‘The Message’).
The Recording Session
The first phase of recording and filming the charity single took place in May 2011 in Rabat with the support of the Mawazine Festival. The second and final phase of recording and filming the charity single took place in Doha in October 2011, in collaboration with Associate Producers, Doha Film Institute (DFI) and the Qatar Museums Authority. HH Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Al Thani was kind enough to host and grant the opportunity to film and record in Doha.
The Global Premiere
The highly anticipated world premiere of the charity single and music video ‘Tomorrow-Bokra’ was held in Dubai on 11.11.11 at an exclusive event at the One&Only The Palm, Dubai, under the Royal Patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Manal Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Women Establishment, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs, UAE. The UAE is world-renowned as a multicultural bridge between East and West and is an embodiment of the hopefulness and transformation expressed in ‘Tomorrow-Bokra.’ HH Sheikha Manal bint Mohamed was wonderfully supportive in her patronage of this initiative, of the launch of the event and of future activities. The ‘Tomorrow-Bokra’ song and video was premiered live around the world via global TV simulcast from the Dubai event, with MBC in the Middle East/North Africa region and on youtube.com/tomorrowbokra. Fans from around the globe were also be able to watch the video on CNN and online on the Tomorrow-Bokra YouTube channel (youtube.com/tomorrowbokra).
