There’s nothing more daunting for a musician than to take to the stage without a clue what song they’re going to play. But when Sting invited musicians Kamal Musallam and Rashmi Bhatt on stage at his Dubai concert for a musical experiment, their mind-blowing, unrehearsed performance went viral, amassing over 1.9 million YouTube views to date!
Sting introduces the idea behind this odd live set, stating: “Listening is fundamental, so I want to conduct an experiment today,” before introducing world musicians Kamal (dubbed by Sting as one of the greatest Oud players in existence) and Rashmi, who plays the tabla.
He goes on, “Out of these three separate narratives, from widely different cultures and musical history, we shall attempt, through attentive listening and empathy, to create and weave one coherent song or story from these very different strands.”
Sting had only met Kamal and Rashmi very briefly the night before, and with zero rehearsals completed before the gig, even Sting claimed he was nervous that the experiment would simply fail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDtjDThed7o
But as Sting lets the first chords of his hit ’00 single “Desert Rose” ring out, Kamal weaves some mystically complex Oud riffs through the cracks, manifesting the smoky, natural allure of Sting’s title like an absolute pro. Rashmi takes on the percussion, first a traditional shaker, then the Tabla (think bongo drums), until Sting cuts the Eastern ambience with his surprising non-English vocalizations.
Recreating the “Desert Rose” single, Sting takes on the Algerian-Arabic first verse, originally sung by Cheb Mami. Northumberland-born Sting earns an almost instant round of applause from his Dubai audience, dabbling in microtones with a voice bolder than imaginable.
We’ve got to hand it to Kamal and Rashmi, who breathe fresh and exciting new life into this acoustic cover, improvising around Sting’s hit like Grammy Award-winning legends and making the piece almost unrecognizable. Sting holds the hit in place with his lyrics, but all else is a testament to the power of improv, the importance of listening, and connecting through a shared love of music.
Sting’s fans can’t get enough of this performance, with one top commenter writing, “Multi-talented, and what I love about him is he isn’t afraid to branch out into other genres and just feel the music and I think that is commendable.”
In the mood for more Sting, perhaps 30 minutes of back-to-back hits? Music Man readers can check out Sting’s viral live session in Paris in the video above – this astounding set has already topped 15 million YouTube views!