Producer Profile: Sarah Nabil

Sarah Nabil is Bahrain’s first hip-hop producer and composer. The Kingdom of Bahrain is the smallest country in the Middle Eastern region of the world, and Nabil describes that they have  “a music scene, not yet an industry” there.

At seventeen, Nabil met her mentor DJ Outlaw and fell in love with the craft. However, unlike the Western world, for Sarah there was no predecessor for her emerging career in production. She says “at the time there were no other women doing this; there were no stepping stones for me as a woman in the industry.”

There is also the problem of a lack of available resources in Bahrain. In 2015 Red Bull built a community center for artists which is called Malja. Malja translates to “shelter” in Arabic which is fitting for the center which has helped support the emerging and existing art community. Malja also houses Bahrain’s only free recording studio. Sarah explains “Malja is the only place in Bahrain with a free recording studio. It’s an amazing resource that has encouraged artists to be braver, and you have to be brave to make it in this industry. Young girls have told me they find what I’m doing inspiring. That gives me a responsibility to continue.”

Sarah and the label she’s affiliated with, Outlaw Productions, have big dreams for the future of Bahrain. “People used to say that if you want to make it in music, you have to leave Bahrain. We want to change that. We want to build this industry from the ground up and in 30 years look back and say we were a part of that,” she says.