With 25 years of expertise beneath his belt, Bayar chats about his new single, his strategy to style fusion and what’s subsequent.
Injecting his personal cultural roots into his music, Wahid Bayar has dropped a brand new single, “Summer season Love.”
The Afghan-Dutch artist has stripped away the ornate manufacturing that typically bogs down crossover information, as an alternative working on an easier frequency. Unpretentious heat meets competent craftsmanship within the new monitor, which blends home rhythms with breezy manufacturing that appears like sunshine after an extended winter.
Bayar’s East-meets-West strategy finds snug center floor between conventional Afghan melodic sensibilities and Western pop buildings. His background in hip-hop fusion and theater often surfaces in sudden rhythmic pockets, excavating deeper wells of creativity than a post-summer single sometimes calls for.
We caught up with Bayar to talk in regards to the influences behind “Summer season Love” and what’s subsequent for the artist.
EDM.com: You latterly received the Gold Medal on the 2025 International Worldwide Music Competitors – Open Class, Versatile Musician Division. How does this honor form your imaginative and prescient for future EDM and cross-cultural tasks?
Wahid Bayar: This award validates my strategy to combining a number of music types, together with hip-hop, pop, classical and world music. It motivates me to push boundaries and collaborate on tasks that combine digital music with dance and theatre for world audiences.
EDM.com: “Summer season Love” bursts with power. How has your background in dance and theatre influenced this EDM monitor, and the way do you translate emotion into digital music?
Wahid Bayar: Dance and theatre have taught me to show emotion into rhythm. In “Summer season Love,” I fuse EDM with hip-hop and world music. The melody expresses the emotion, whereas the rhythm helps it, creating an immersive expertise that resonates even with out a dwell viewers.
EDM.com: Since 2000, you’ve appeared on worldwide phases as a dancer, choreographer, composer and producer, incomes worldwide recognition. How have these experiences formed the best way you combine motion, music and storytelling in your EDM and cross-cultural tasks?
Wahid Bayar: Motion, music and storytelling are on the core of my artistic DNA. Performing globally in theatre has taught me to mix rhythm, emotion and power to craft experiences that resonate with numerous audiences.
Typically, I create music impressed by choreography, or choreograph to present tracks—every medium feeding the opposite. This holistic strategy shapes my EDM and cross-cultural tasks, permitting me to craft music that’s not simply heard, however felt, bridging genres, cultures and audiences worldwide.
EDM.com: Trying again in your influential work introducing hip-hop and dance-fusion to Afghan and European audiences, what had been the important thing milestones in your journey, and which early works greatest illustrate your influence?
Wahid Bayar: I used to be one of many first Afghan artists to carry hip-hop and dance-fusion to each Afghan and European audiences. A serious milestone was my first rap/hip-hop monitor, Birahmi (‘Cruelty’), launched in 2002, adopted by Bo Man Bego Ey Ghoda (‘Oh God, Inform Me’). After my 2005 efficiency at a refugee demonstration for kids from war-torn nations, each tracks had been included within the CD and e book Een Royale Gebaar, introduced to Dutch Queen Beatrix and authorities ministers.
These works launched my worldwide profession, and since then, I’ve carried out worldwide, collaborated with globally acknowledged artists like Mozdeah, DjRoshan, DjMir2 and launched tracks reaching tens of hundreds of streams, persevering with my mission to attach cultures and encourage youth by means of music, dance and storytelling.
EDM.com: Your music is reaching audiences throughout the globe. How does this worldwide attain replicate your influence on the EDM and dance-fusion scene?
Wahid Bayar: Platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube permit my music to attach globally. Even with out a dwell viewers, the response proves that cross-genre EDM resonates worldwide.
EDM.com: You’ve carried out in over 1,500 theatre reveals worldwide, together with a 4,000-person present in Amsterdam in 2009. Trying again, which of those experiences had the best influence in your creative progress and profession trajectory?
Wahid Bayar: Each efficiency or theatre/dance present is a novel expertise, as you encounter a brand new viewers every time. The 2009 solo live performance stays unforgettable as a result of I used to be the primary Afghan artist to mix dance and theatre components with my very own music on such a big stage for a big viewers, who had been visibly impressed. Moreover, worldwide theatre festivals, profit productions, and collaborations with different artists strengthened my perception that music and dance can transcend boundaries.
EDM.com: Trying forward, which tasks excite you essentially the most, and the way will you proceed mixing EDM, music, theatre and dance globally?
Wahid Bayar: I give attention to cross-cultural collaborations, increasing EDM experimentation, and creating immersive tasks that combine music, theatre, and dance. My aim is to encourage audiences worldwide and pave the best way for different artists exploring fusion genres.
Observe Wahid Bayar:
Instagram: instagram.com/wahidbayar
Spotify: tinyurl.com/5he6sn5v