Attempts to sonically align the Middle East and the West have often faltered, but Bahjat is driven to prove it’s possible to create relatable, emotionally-driven songs that connect with listeners around the world. With major life experiences shaping his personal songwriting, Bahjat’s success puts him in a position where he could become the Arab world’s first global superstar and a shining crossover hope to fly the flag for his region.
Growing up in Tripoli, Libya, Bahjat was fascinated by Disney animated movies, particularly The Little Mermaid. He was enraptured by the songs, but also found a connection in the escapist stories about misfit protagonists trying to find their place in the world. He taught himself to play keyboards by imitating songs at seven and fell in love with writing his own after he started taking guitar lessons at twelve. The young musician was inspired by artists like Taylor Swift and Lorde, and discovered that songwriting was a way to put wordless emotions into words. Throughout the ups and downs of his youth, particularly as he was bullied for being obese, songs were Bahjat’s constant companion.
“Music was a friend for me, where I could just be myself,” he remembers. “It didn't judge me or my situation. Growing up, I never felt that I truly belonged, so I started writing songs to make sense of the world and my feelings. I didn’t have the courage to speak up or say things to people, so I looked for other ways to get that closure. It amazed me how writing the last word of every song gave me such a sense of closure on whatever I was writing about.”
By fifteen, Bahjat became convinced he wanted music to be his life and began uploading cover songs to YouTube. A few months later, in 2011, war broke out in Libya and Bahjat and his family were forced to flee his home country for Malta. They lost everything and became refugees. The musician’s father disappeared from his life, leaving Bahjat as the head of his family. It was a dramatic change from his life in Tripoli, but still Bahjat clung to music, knowing that music had always been there to heal his pain and offer a feeling of catharsis.
Over the next few years, Bahjat began releasing original songs. An avid networker, he sought out hundreds of producers on Facebook, packed a backpack, and travelled to Stockholm to knock on doors in hopes of finding opportunities to make the music he wanted to make. His determination led him to getting a slot in Musikmakarna - a pop music academy in the north of Sweden, where he built a strong network of songwriters and producers. Working hard to carve out his own signature brand of music by combining English and Arabic lyrics with Western and Middle Eastern stylistic influences, the musician and producer has created his own unique style: A-POP. His breakout 2019 single, “Istanbul,” set him on his current path, and he’s built a loyal fanbase who have helped him rack up over 35M streams and 150M+ YouTube views. These achievements not only make Bahjat one of the Arab world’s most promising international acts, but already cement him as one of the most successful Libyan artists of all time.
Bahjat's seamless way of mixing Arabic and English stems from growing up with Western music while also listening to Arabic music on the radio. Despite resistance from music industry executives and naysayers, who claimed he should only sing in Arabic, due to the fact that mixing languages had never worked before in the Arab world, Bahjat has stayed true to his vision and artfully intertwined English and Arabic in his music. Doing so has connected him with an engaged, global audience he didn’t see coming. Songs like “Istanbul” have resonated with people who have also been refugees or who are young Arabs who don’t feel like they only belong to their physical place. For Bahjat, A-POP has the potential to be the voice of the youth who have cultivated their own global culture and are misunderstood by the world.
“Growing up I couldn’t find anyone who represented me in the media I consumed,” the musician says. “I want young people to turn on the radio or turn on their TV and be able to say, ‘He went through the same thing as me and still made it.’”
