Episode 18: “Dubai is Like a Big Airport” ft Cromwell Ojeda
Narration: Today, the last of our three stories about musicians in the United Arab Emirates and the joys and pains of calling that place home.
This is the story of Cromwell Ojeda. He built his career in Dubai.
Cromwell: Dubai's like a big airport, everyone comes and goes. It's just, you know, the matter of time when. When that time is gonna come, for you to leave either going to another country, or like going back to your home country. You know, it's bound to happen. I guess the only thing you can do is to cherish it, you know, to connect as many people as I can and create memories with those people through music.
Every time, like I meet someone, if it's a musician, we have to at least create a track together or like be in a band together.
Meklit: Yeah
There was this point that I had, like what 20 bands active in the scene.
Meklit: Wait, really like actually 20 bands?
Cromwell: Yeah. Yeah, there was this show that, there's like, I think like 12 bands on the lineup and 10 of those are like my bands. Like I would just like, go on the drums maybe for two bands. And then on the third band, I'll play like a bass. So you know, like that was my mentality
Meklit: Mm-hmm
Cromwell: If I meet you and if I like you, like, we have to share something together. And for me that's like music
Narration: Cromwell has been a staple of the UAE music scene for twenty years. He plays drums, bass, guitar, synthesizer. Whatever it is the music needs in a given moment.
Cromwell told me that if there's a local band he likes in a given style, say a reggae band, or a metal band, he'd rather support them than compete with them. So instead he'll do something different, start a dub band, a hardcore band, something that serves and expands the music scene itself.
But building community and collaboration can be hard in a country where most folks aren’t citizens, and where as Cromwell said, people tend to come and go. This was very much on his mind as we spoke, because Cromwell's original collaborator, his brother, was getting ready to move to Canada. Their family came to the UAE from the Philippines when he and his brother were just kids, and their musical paths have always been linked going all the way back to their first guitar. My name is Meklit and this is Movement, music and migration, remixed.
Cromwell: Back then in like ‘94, ‘90, ‘95. There wasn't like a lot of options here in the UAE for musical instruments. So there was this one of my uncle who went to the Philippines for vacation. And then after like a month he came back with like an acoustic guitar. I was excited. My brother was excited. It was like, I guess, like a magical moment in the house when that guitar arrives.
So I would like learn this song. And then my brother also would learn this song. And like, we would like, somehow kind of compete on who gets it first. You know, and gets it the cleanest. So it was fun. It was like a friendly competition, somehow.
Narration: Cromwell and his brother played their first show together in high school. They had to pool their money to hire a cab so they could get the drumset to the gig just to play two songs. They were both totally committed. And for years afterward they played in bands together, including the one you’re hearing now.
Cromwell: Like if I need to have someone to bounce ideas with, like, he's always the guy that I go to, you know. But right now, like he's, he's going to Canada for good.
Meklit: Oh wow
Cromwell: So this is the first time that me and him are gonna be apart.
It's funny, like even though we kind of grew up seeing my dad and his brother, they've never really stayed in the same country. Like, my uncle has always been in the Philippines. And it's funny that I never really see that happening to me and my brother up until now. Seeing him posting all his stuff for sale on Facebook. It just makes it real. Two days ago, he just returned all of my guitars, you know? It's like, we can't be the same kids that we were, back in the day, playing that one guitar and jamming and playing in a band, you know? Like he has his family now. I have my family now and we have different priorities now. So I guess that's just life, you know.
Meklit: Yeah. It's a big thing to have your brother move away and, I'm sure it's the sound he contributes, but it's also the feeling, isn't it?
Cromwell: It is. The thing is like, it, it's not the skills, you know, that makes up what a band member you are in the band. The experience, you know, the chemistry, those unspoken words that connects you guys, that's something that you cannot replace.
Meklit: Yeah, And it's hard to explain sometimes to people who are not musicians, how the way you play together is the way you are together. So like the depth of your emotional connection, it shows up in the music.
Cromwell: Yes. I love that. I, and I really, I really feel that that is like hundred percent true. like every time we play me and my brother, we feel that, you know, like it's coming from a much more deeper feeling, you know? It's like, you feel it, but you can't explain it.
Meklit: Sometimes expat communities, in the US, we would call them immigrant communities. But sometimes people keep going
Cromwell: Yeah
Meklit: You know what I mean?
Cromwell: At the end of the day, you don't really have a choice, you know? I mean,
Meklit: Yeah
Cromwell: It's like a train, you know? It's either you're off it or you're in it, you know? It's just life, it's life. You know, life move forwards.
Meklit: Yeah
Narration: One of the ways that Cromwell has learned to adapt and move forwards, is by making music that he can create and perform entirely on his own. He now has an electronic music project called Muhaisanah Four, which is named for a neighborhood in Dubai where he used to live with his parents and brother.
Cromwell: When I started fiddling with garage band I was like, I can really do this. I could just like sit in a coffee shop with my laptop and my midi keyboard. If I have, like, an idea, I'll just like put it there. It kind of amazes me because I grew up playing in a band. Before, if you have like an idea, you would be like, Hey let's meet this weekend and, you know, like, let's jam this music, you know? Like you would wait for like three, four days before you can even like, play that music with your band. But with electronic music, you can just like, do it.
I kinda start on it in a minimal way. Like, I let it grow on me organically in a way that I wanted to be like bare and raw. It's funny because like, my idea was like, I wanna create electronic music that I can still play even without electricity.
Meklit: Oh, wow. Oh, I love that.
Cromwell: You know, it's like, even if I have like a acoustic guitar, I can still like play that melody, you know? I mean, I can still stomp my feet and jam with it with my guitar. For me, that's how I started.
One of the track that I composed and produced, is a track called home. It's a track that pays tribute actually to the city that I grew up to, which is, you know, Dubai. It's a very chilled out, and relaxing music that reflects my life. Like after busy day of work, I go down to the basement, go to the car, drive back home on the sunset, you know? Like thinking of, you know, what's my wife's cooking. And then thinking of the kids, thinking of like, going to the park after the dinner. That kind of moment, that chilled magical moment of going back to your loved one, to your family.
I guess that's what makes me, create those kind of music. It's the downtime of the busy day in our lives here.
I don't see myself old and living in a different country other than UAE. A lot of people just, you know, used Dubai as a stepping stone. Best example is my brother. They opted out to a country that would provide them like a more secured future, I guess. That offers, you know, like residency that will give you and your family a benefit, you know? That's something that will also take care of you after you take care of them.
Because at the end of the day, like all of us expat, the, you know, like I know that we, we work hard and you know, like we give back to the UAE, you know? Like all of our service and what not. But then again, when you cannot be employed anymore, you have to like go back to your country. So I guess my brother just wanted to go to a place that, you know, that can take care of them when the time comes that they cannot work for that country anymore.
Meklit: Right.
Cromwell: But every time I go to the Pilipines, I feel like I'm on a vacation. I'm on, like in a, in a country that I need to explore. And then in, when I go back to Dubai, to the UAE, I feel like my life is here.
Meklit: Right.
Cromwell: I'm ,I feel like I'm more deeply rooted to this place. I'm more connected to this place. You know, like, my soul is here in the city, you know? This is the city where I've experienced a lot, you know? I've cried. I laughed. I think that's it, you know? Like I think my memory bank are much more filled of memories that I have here in the UAE than in the Philippines. I guess that's what being an expat does to you.
Narration: When recorded that interview with Cromwell, his brother was getting ready to leave the country for Canada, where his family could have a chance at permanent residency, even citizenship. That summer, Cromwell and his brother played a final show together in Dubai.
Then, three weeks after his brother left, Cromwell joined us onstage for Movement Live. He shared the story of that last night, and what it meant for him, to finally see his brother go.
Cromwell: Just over 3 weeks ago, my brother and his family migrated to Canada for good. To start their new life and to find their new home.
We get to spend his last 24 hours in Dubai together. As I watch him pack his luggage, I was sitting in the living room watching him. And it kind of find it surreal and weird at the same time. I’m seeing my brother leave Dubai for good. Playing music in the UAE will not be the same without him.
So, the time comes that I need to drop them to the airport. Driving to the airport, we passed by familiar streets and places. Places that we used to go to when we were kids. It kind of reminds me of the the first day that we first arrived in the country. But I guess this time, only one of us is staying. Then all became real.
Watching him go through the immigration counter with his family and as he waved his last goodbye as if he was saying, brother everything’s going to be alright. It made me think. What is home?
Is it the city that provides you a job and security to provide for the betterment and for the future of your family? Is it an apartment that you live for more than 10 years? That you filled up with a bunch of furniture from Ikea and even Dubizzle. Or maybe a bunch of Monstera plants that you got from Mina Market? I know I’m guilty of that. Or is it our Motherland that we hardly knew because we spent so many years away from it, trying to make it in a different country?
For me? For me, Home is a memory. An emotional connection to people. People that you’ve shared special moments and experiences. People that you love, you care, and you respect. For me home is that one guitar that me and my brother shared 28 years ago. Us discovering our new passion to music. Spending countless of hours learning songs. Enjoying the moments that we would sit together. The joy of the two Filipino brothers starting a new journey through music with that one guitar.
And even though he’s thousands of miles away from me now, I know that the memories that we shared and the special moments that we built, will always serve as a home in my heart.
Narration: That was Cromwell Ojeda, live at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. This series was made possible with the generous support of the National Geographic Society, and the incredible team at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, including Bill Bragin, Lana Goliath, and many others.
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Movement is produced by Ian Coss and myself, Meklit Hadero. Our co-creator and podcast godmother is Julie Caine. Our broadcast partner is The World. We are supported by The Mellon Foundation, and distributed by PRX.