Today we’d like to introduce you to Marwan.
Hi Marwan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My story… It is tricky to know where to begin answering this question as I feel that I have explored so many different branches that have led me to a bunch of different places that are all still developing at the same time. I love growing and feel that I experience the most contentment in the moments when I am experiencing noticeable growth. I’ve been growing for the last 24 years (I’m 24 🙂) so there’s a lot we can talk about. So, let’s start from the top. As a young kid back in Egypt, maybe 4 or 5 years old, I knew that my grandma was a cellist in her younger days and I knew she also played the piano, which she would show me basic scales on. However, my parents placed me in many sports, and those became my main focus. On the hour-long drives into Cairo for all my sports practices and back home to our small town called “Shorouk” (sunrise), my family played verses from the “Qur’an” which were gorgeously sung by the best professional reciters of the verses in Egypt. Without much thought, I would sing along with them and soon had many of them memorized, both the words and the vocal inflections and melodies of the priests. I secretly wanted to be a singer, even though I told everyone that an astronaut was what I wanted to be. Fast-forward to when I was 13, revolution struck my home and all of a sudden everything was shut down. Schools, sports, and most social activities. It was a dangerous and uncertain time, and so when my mom got an opportunity to bring my younger sister and I to America in 2011, we took it. It was here in the US that I really discovered my passion for music. After hearing Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele arrangement of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, originally by the Beatles, I fell in love with the sound and immediately bought a ukulele with the goal of learning that song. I eventually began playing the guitar as it sounded more true to the old soul and Motown records I was just starting to listen to at the time. Playing all the way until my freshman year of college, I realized as a young Sociology major that I am not going to make the cut sitting playing my own version of “air guitar” (what I now like to call “mind guitar”) in all of my classes. With inspiration from Josh Welchez, the professor in the Jazz combo I had accidentally stumbled upon in my 2nd quarter of freshman year, I decided to switch my major to music. I had no clue about jazz as I’d never heard it growing up in Egypt. The realization of how little I knew opened up my mind to the biggest over-flood of curiosity I’d ever felt. I soon was always with Josh asking him every possible question I could think of. Later he encouraged me to pursue my goal of arranging traditional Egyptian music for a big band one day and guided me as I arranged my first combo and big band pieces for the university ensembles. I fell in love with the process and hoped to get to do it more one day after college. From there I graduated, mid-pandemic, and moved to South LA. I realized that there was no work in music with the lockdown and saw how much folks were missing it. As I reflected, I decided to throw a music and art show one Thursday night, knowing about 3 people in LA at the time in hopes to get to play some music and to also be able to put some money in the pockets of local musicians, artists, and small businesses as those were some highly vulnerable groups during the lockdown. After doing it the first week, I decided to throw the show again the next week before even checking to see if I lost money, which I knew was likely the case (it was), because the feeling of love and community that I saw foster that night was too addicting to let go of, and I had faith that it would grow. Fast forward almost a year and I have an awesome team alongside me helping make it happen, over 200 beautiful people in the crowd, a dozen vendors, a barber offering free haircuts, and local artists and businesses promoting themselves and forming bonds and relationships that would last until today. I myself also formed bonds that would allow me to be able to pursue music full-time after the lockdown and learned many invaluable lessons. Since then, I have been gigging regularly as a guitarist, producing my own music as well as music for others, most recently a Jazz album with a string quartet and 6-piece horn section that I also got to arrange a lot of, and teaching a small group of a few dedicated young musicians that I am honored to have the opportunity to guide. I feel incredibly blessed, and I look forward to continuing to work hard to explore my musicianship infinitely further I can’t wait to meet all the people I will get to form bonds with along the way of the creative projects we are sure to create.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. Most worthwhile roads aren’t. From fleeing revolution as a 13-year-old to living in poverty and instability, to graduating from music school in the middle of the pandemic. There are many invaluable external bumps I had little to no control over that I could talk about, but I will focus here on the most persistent bump in the road, one that is internal, which also makes it one that can be controlled. So, what is it? And what is it more persistent than revolution and all those other things I mentioned? Well, the mind is a tricky beast, and learning to face its challenges head-on is scary for anyone, especially any artist/entrepreneur or anyone looking to pave their own way in the world, as I know many of us from my generation are doing. Fighting through the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that comes with being a creative is that constant battle. It starts over every day as many signals around us attempt to convince us that we’re not doing enough, or that we’re not good enough. One of my greatest challenges has been coming to terms with my own sense of value, self-worth, and accomplishment. To be able to look at all the things that I have not accomplished yet and see them with excitement rather than a sense of failure or lack of sufficiency in the fact that I have not achieved those things yet. I want to travel the world playing music. I want to have a voice that can be heard all over the world and that I can use to bring positive change in people’s lives. I want to be among the best in my field and to share my expertise and my love with everyone around me freely. I want to help bring people’s projects to life and help them achieve their own visions. Some of those things I’m grateful to have done at least partially already, while others will definitely need more time. So, as I embark on each new day with a new agenda and list of things to do for the day, I strive to view each thing that is not real yet as an exciting possibility that I look forward to exploring alongside my beloved creative peers that I’m grateful to have now, and those I am yet to meet.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a professional musician, composer/arranger, producer, and artist. I play guitar in the bands of many talented artists I am grateful to know in a bunch of different styles ranging from funk to pop, RnB, Jazz, Hip Hop, blues, and rock. I am also an arranger and have arranged music for a variety of groups from string quartets to big bands, jazz combos, and pop arrangements. Another area in which I work is production. As a producer, it is my goal to help artists realize their visions and truly feel that their work is representative of who they are as people or the message they hope to convey. I am a spreadsheet freak and love keeping things organized and coordinating with different people for the needs of each project, so my favorite projects to work on are ones where I really get to help an artist bring their project together from all different angles. Things like hiring musicians, arranging music, booking studios, music directing rehearsals, organizing budgets and schedules, and everything else that falls within that is my happy place! I also work to create my own music to express myself in the middle of the hustle and bustle of everything else. Finally, I just love to help people. So, if you have an idea that you want some guidance on, I am more than happy to help bring that idea to life, or to refer one of my amazingly talented peers to do that! I believe knowledge is meant to be shared and strive to live by that daily. I know I would not be anywhere close to where I am today if it wasn’t for the selfless sharing of knowledge my mentors and peers embody.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
Oooooh there are a bunch of favorite books. Here are my top 5 picks in no particular order! The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
12 Notes – Quincy Jones
The Music Lesson – Victor Wooten
Atomic Habits – James Clear
Beyond Fear – Don Miguel Angel Ruiz
Biggest general lessons
Form good habits. Forgive yourself quickly when you don’t meet them and try again. Always keep learning and stay curious.
Easier said than done, but we do our best!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marwan.music/
Image Credits
Ash Shaniah
Lia Schifitto
Jack Higgins
