Ziyad Matar - Z Rain

Ziyad Abdi (born October 15, 1979), better known by his stage names Ziyad Matar and Z Rain, is an Emirati singer, songwriter and recording artist. Born and raised in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Ziyad began recording experimental Arabic rap and hip-hop music back in 1997 while attending high school in Abu Dhabi, where he became involved with the Arabic music scene.

Upon releasing his debut Arabic rap album on cassette & CD (Zihab 2000) in collaboration with Ehab Aba-Saeed (record producer) by SIDI-BMG back in January-2001. The album became a best-seller particularly amongst Persian Gulf countries within few weeks of its official release to targeted markets.

Ziyad also released two patriotic national singles (Proudly Emirati-2012) and (Ya Biladi-2013), incorporating new musical and rap poetry elements using a progressive Arabic themed Middle Eastern style while showcasing his artistic love bilingually in the latter recorded unplugged live performance of his, in gratitude to H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan - the President of the UAE, for his favorable recommendations which would seem to finally allow Emirati women to grant their children (from foreign partners) the citizenship of the UAE.

Leaving the UAE for reasons related to 1) His right to live legally and freely in the only country that he knows of and was born at. 2) His freedom to convert and denounce the Islamic faith that he was born with. Ziyad traveled from the UAE to the Philippines on June-2015 under the protection scheme granted by the Laws of the UN Convention which are adequately honored by the Government of the Philippines.

Delighted by his freedom of faith and speech… Ziyad is now determent to pick up on his genuine ambitions to express his thoughts, uniqueness and freedom. You can stay tuned by connecting with him on any social media channels preferable to you.