Haydenfilms News & Events

The Omani Hip-Hop Culture On Film

By Jessica Novak
Haydenfilms Correspondent

Tucked against the Arabian Sea, south of Iran, east of Saudi Arabia and west of India, is Oman. It is a country of deserts, beaches and mountains, rich in 5,000 years of culture and history with roots based in the Islamic tradition and Ibadhism, Oman’s own form of Islam.

By any stretch, Oman is distant to America, culturally and geographically.

However, when 2008 Howard University graduate Michael Henderson traveled to Oman through a study abroad program, he discovered similarities he never could have anticipated. He learned about more than a country of political, economic and social development. He learned of a youth culture strikingly similar to ours. He stumbled upon the Omani hip-hop movement.

“I went to study economic development, but they wanted to show me hip-hop,” said the 27-year-old Henderson. “Like soccer or football was, now hip-hop is. It gives people the opportunity to express themselves.”

Henderson traveled to Oman with the School for International Training (SIT), which offers field-based programs in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. When making his decision concerning location, Henderson was torn between a program in South America’s Southern Cone (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) or Oman. Though he had never heard of Oman before considering the program, he saw it as an opportunity to reveal the truth about Islamic culture.

“Even within my own family there was misunderstanding,” said Henderson.
“I went to Oman because we don’t really understand Islam, their culture, here.”

The SIT program allowed Henderson to study Oman’s economy, development, politics and resource management. He spent much of his trip in seminars, classes and lectures with various Omani speakers and composed a thesis discussing economics and free trade.

But many of Henderson’s most lasting impressions came from experiences outside the classroom.

Carl Doten, a Bethel University student in the same program, was a part of many of these experiences as well.

“We stayed with families while we were there and Mike’s had younger kids,” explained Doten. “We found out about hip-hop and break-dancing through them.”

The kids, ranging in age from 8 to 30, would gather on weekend nights and bring boom-boxes playing both Omani and Western hip-hop. Doten and Henderson saw hundreds of Omani youth spinning on their heads, top-rocking and pop-locking on beaches and basketball courts.

“It was something for them to do, as fun, as friends,” said Doten. “They all did Taekwondo, so this was another way of keeping active.”

But Henderson saw it as more than an after-school activity.

“I saw potential for sponsorship, marketing and an opportunity for these kids,” said Henderson. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

So, Henderson started approaching people who could make something happen. In 2006 he created a PowerPoint presentation with SIT classmate Jamie O’Melia from Georgetown University. It discussed the potential of the Omani hip-hop and break-dance movement as a mechanism for marketing, specifically geared toward Red Bull.

The short presentation quickly developed into a grant proposal to the Howard University honors program. Henderson asked to return to Oman to produce a collection of essays on hip-hop development and cultural diplomacy and was granted his request to go back.

He returned to Oman in the fall of 2007 and conducted research to complete the essays. However, he also collected enough video footage using a digital camera to create a 15-minute short film, “Break-Dancing in Oman” to supplement his written research.

The film then reached the Executive Director to the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC), Ambassador Elizabeth McKune, who recognized the potential fit of Omani hip-hop in the upcoming Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Arab Cultural Festival in March of 2009.

McKune suggested the Omani break-dancers to Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, producer and choreographer Debbie Allen, who was helping to produce the Kennedy Center performance. Allen jumped at the opportunity to bring less traditional dance to the Kennedy Center stage and worked with a group of Omani dancers headed by Sultan Al-Abdali, the leader of the SNK Dancers (serve and knock). Allen traveled to Oman and later brought the dancers to L.A., integrating her own dance company into the routine as well.

“I promised Omani boys my age that I would get them here and I did,” said Henderson. “They performed at the Kennedy Center and even Michelle Obama was there. It started as a college project, but with pushing, turned into this.”

Since the performance at the Kennedy Center, the project has expanded exponentially. Henderson returned to Oman for a fourth time in the winter of 2009-2010 and was fortunate to gain support for his project, including a camera crew and accommodations using relationships he established during past trips.

Abdul-Aziz, a friend Henderson describes as a brother, is the son of The Innovations Group of Oman CEO Al-Hadad. The group gave Henderson a cinematographer, photographer and access to their studios, cameras, cranes, lights and sound equipment.

Henderson also received sponsorship from Gilbert Sakr, the Redbull country manager of Oman and regional manager for Dubai. Sakr and Red Bull supplied him with round-trip airplane tickets and funds for an apartment for the duration of his stay.

Now that Henderson has returned from the two-month filming, he is in the process of editing the material into a full-length documentary entitled, “Shabab: An Omani Hip-Hop Story.” The documentary will follow five young leaders of the movement and will draw attention not only to the emotion of their own experiences, but the parallels they suggest between their culture and the one Henderson grew up knowing.

“Being from Texas, I see a lot of this in our own culture,” said Henderson. “There were no big rappers from Texas years ago. It was all L.A. and New York City: Wu-Tang, Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Biggie. Then there was this southern uprising of Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, Scarface and UGK. It’s about people coming from nothing and working hard to get somewhere.”

Like the myths surrounding rappers, Henderson hopes his film will help dispel the myths surrounding b-boy (break-dancing) culture and the image many Westerners hold of Arab youths.

“I’m going to send this film to every film festival, ever,” said Henderson. “Eventually I’ll try to sell it and hope I can show it to as many people as possible.”

Founder of Haydenfilms.com, Hayden Craddolph noticed Henderson’s fervent drive when they met at the launch of Philos World, a division of Sons and Daughters of Africa (SADA) in Washington DC last October.

“The film came up in conversation and it sounded so interesting,” said Craddolph. “The funding process, use of the DC political system and being a student is also big.”

Craddolph plans to coordinate with Henderson in the future to help provoke dialogue, awareness and possibly raise money through events, symposiums and question and answer sessions.

“Michael was very passionate about the project,” said an impressed Craddolph. “Passion helps a filmmaker get heard. We want to help the voice get further out there.”

With the launch of the non-profit Haydenfilms Institute, Craddolph hopes to have more grants available to help fund projects like Henderson’s and looks forward to helping future filmmakers.

“Haydenfilms seems like an organization that has a really altruistic, indie focus, not just for a profit,” said Henderson. “I hope they’ll help to distribute the film because it’s not just about hip-hop. It’s about dispelling myths. I hope it will create conversation more than 9/11. That by seeing the passion and dreams of these kids, we’ll realize theirs is not so different than my or your up bringing. We have a lot more in common than we like to think. We all want to be successful.”

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