Identical twins Bob and Clint Moffatt of Music Travel Love have a lot of miles under their belts. Born in March 1984, they started performing in the Moffatt family band in 1987, when they were 3 years old. Along with their older brother Scott (b. 1983) and fraternal twin Dave, their 1st stage appearance was on Timmy’s Springtime Telethon in 1988.
The Music Man has previously told the story of The Moffatt’s successful career & of how Bob and Clint branched off to form MUSIC TRAVEL LOVE in 2018. Music Travel Love (MTL) is a project where the brothers “travel the world making music, friends, videos and memories!” Many MTL videos are the brothers playing as a duo. Others feature musical guests:
MTL previously posted a duo version of Stand By Me in 2018. With 67M views it is their second most popular video on YouTube. The beautifully version with a video filmed at Al Ain, Abu Dhabi (above) already has 5.3M views in just two months. ExcuseMeBut captures the flavour of the comments on YouTube: “I was captivated by the luxury of the first voice and then the harmonies cut in and made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Perfection. You made an old favourite a new favourite.”
The Abu Dhabi video of Stand By Me features Arqam Al Abri, who sings the first verse, along with the lovely voices of emerging singers Suzan Sadek, Donia El Hendi and Maya Mashour. Not seen it the video is Yudhis Arianto who plays piano & strings – the song was recorded in a hotel room shortly before the outside video shoot. Of the quests, Arquam has the highest profile. In the UAE he has gained a reputation as a luscious-voiced soul singer. Here is Arquam singing one of his breakthrough songs:
Heavy was written by Arqam and Pascale Hadad. Another popular Arqam song is Towards The Light, featuring Sara Cavic. He also participated in the World Music Day 2020 global anthem, Together Let Go. Arquam first pursued a business career where he was involved in events and sponsorship, before he switched to music. He says his main influences are Motown, Boyz II Men & Neo Soul, but he would like to incorporate more eclectic influences like Lenny Kravitz and Radiohead in his music. He would also like to work towards singing some Arabic music. If your are interested in hearing more of Arqam I recommend that you do a Google search. He only has four videos on his YouTube channel, but some great performances can be found if you run a search. This is due to these videos being posted by the venues or sponsors of his various appearances.
Maya Mashhour won the advanced RnP (rock and pop) category at the Abu Dhabi Young Musician Award 2022 while a student at Al Yasmina Academy. She was also the overall runner up. Maya was invited back to sing at the 2023 event as a previous winner.
Egyptian Susan Sadek is a singer songwriter who plays café gigs in her spare time. Her primary focus has been studying interactive design at New York University Abu Dhabi, from where she has recently graduated.
Under the pseudonym donÃa, Donia El Hendi has two songs on various platforms from Spotify to YouTube. One is a cover of Drake’s jungle, the other is an original song called Angel In Disguise.
In conclusion, Music Travel Love deserves praise not only for producing a great cover of Stand By Me but also for giving a global platform to the superb voices of their UAE guest singers. If you would like to see more from Music Travel Love, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Facebook.