PART-TIME singer Maizurah Hatta is helping her second home withstand a conflict with its neighbours through a song urging Qataris to stay strong.
Maizurah, 34, penned #Stay-StrongQatar on June 13 with music composed by British producer Ben Haynes.
Her sense of humanity compelled her to support Qataris as they face the blockade imposed by the country’s neighbours.
“This unfortunate development prompted me to pen a song within a day. I e-mailed it to Ben, and, as soon as he received it, he worked on the melody and chords,” Mai-zurah said.
Maizurah, a Johorean, has been working as a public relations officer for an engineering firm in Doha, Qatar, for the past couple of years.
She said she sympathised with her Qatari friends, who feared that their country would be attacked by neighbours Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“I have been here since February 2015. I find the capital city of Qatar exotic, artistic and multi-cultural. I have since fallen in love with the Middle Eastern emirate, as it is a land of opportunity with a modern and progressive outlook.”
“Qataris are lovely people and I have made wonderful friends here. They have always lived in peace with their neighbours, but now they are living in fear.”
Maizurah, who loves pop and rock genres, recorded the song on June 26 at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, the United Kingdom, and filmed the music video the following day in West London.
On the song, she said: “The tune is uplifting, encouraging Qataris to keep going.”
The lyrics go: “They can block you, they put you down, but they can’t break you. Stay strong, stand on your own, keep on going, don’t lose yourself.”
The song was released on You-Tube on July 5, exactly a month after the blockade.
Maizurah started singing since she was 14. Her musical influences include Datuk Sheila Majid, Ella, Sean Ghazi, Eminem, Adele, Queen and The Beatles.
She has penned and recorded six songs to date, and will be hitting the studios to record another two this year.
She plans to become a recording artiste.
“I hope #StayStrongQatar will introduce my music to Malaysia and the world.”
Type “Maizurah #Stay-StrongQatar” in the search box on YouTube to find the song.