Dana Al Fardan

Dana Al Fardan is a Qatari composer and songwriter and the founder and CEO of DNA Records, the first record label to be established in Qatar. Dana discovered her musical interests at an early age; she recalls that at around the age of eight she was distracted in school by her interest in composing a response to Beethoven’s celebrated ‘Fur Elise’. Since childhood, she has developed her music by experimenting with vocal interpretations of her own and others’ compositions, while noting that her enduring experience with music has remained the composition of melodies and lyrics. Dana's first album Paint was composed during her pregnancy with daughter Layla, who inspired the name of the final song of the collection. Among other musicians, twelve string players from the London Metropolitan orchestra were employed by producer Tim Baxter to fulfil the vision for the album, which was mastered at Abbey Road studios. The release of Paint in November 2013 marked the beginning of a period of more intense collaborative work through 2014 during which Dana continued work with a number of other musicians. In combination with her growing interest in the musical possibilities of Qatar and the Gulf region, this new period of collaboration also saw Dana set up Qatar’s first music label, DNA Records. As a Qatari musician, Al Fardan has commented that, in her view, culture and heritage cannot be separated from the artistic process. Hoping to increase engagement and interaction with more musicians around the world, she has spoken of her hope to help establish a large-scale music festival in Qatar in order to set the scene for the growth of a serious music industry in the country.