EXPLORING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MUSIC & ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
SYRIAN ENTREPRENEUR YAZID EID
LAUNCHES FITNESS RECORD LABEL
TRAINING TUNES
DEBUT SINGLE ‘PRESSURE’
OUT NOW ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS
ACCOMPANIED BY INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC VIDEO FEATURING
OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPION
EMILY CAMPBELL
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO FEATURING EMILY CAMPBELL HERE
Entrepreneur, trainer to the stars and Muay Thai Champion Yazid Eid announces the launch of a brand new multi-platform content provider, music label and production company Training Tunes, creating original songs and music videos inspired by training and catering for those seeking motivation to work out. Music has a profound effect on athletic performance, and Training Tunes is dedicated to that concept.
The brand new single ‘Pressure’ by acclaimed producer NOLAN and featuring vocals from Amber Jolene is the first release on the label and will be available on all streaming platforms on 15th October. NOLAN has released on some of the best dance labels such as Bedrock, Sasha’s Last Night On Earth and Crosstown Rebels. The release will be accompanied by an inspirational music video featuring Olympic weightlifting champion Emily Campbell.
This year, Campbell became both European champion and the first British woman to win an Olympic medal in the sport, with silver at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The touching visual follows Emily’s training journey at her local gym in Nottingham before her victory at the Olympics. With each track specifically curated around the accompanying visual, the driving beat of the track perfectly captures the deeply inspirational sentiment of the video.
The brainchild of entrepreneur, martial arts champion and music lover Yazid Eid, the road to the launch of Training Tunes has been a long and terrifying one. Growing up in Syria and constantly facing the systematic oppression policy by the government in Syria, Yazid took up Karate to avoid bullying and for mental well-being, as well as self-defence to protect himself from dangerous situations.
Yazid says, “My options to fight back were limited to either join a gang, carry a knife, or join a martial arts gym which was what I did. I took up Karate to avoid bullying, but it did not help much, as I later found out that the government prevented gyms from teaching useful combat skills to the public as that would empower them, such skills were only taught to members of the secret police and high-ranking officials, it was a crime to be caught training in practical self-defence punishable by jail time.”
In 2000 and with a new young president, things seemed to be looking up. Yazid led a campaign to modernise the Syrian Sports Federation, travelling to Thailand and the UK where he received replies from HM The Queen, HRH Prince Charles expressing their full support. While planning a Charity Muay Thai event in Damascus in aid of UNICEF to mark the start of a new era in Syrian sport, Syrian officials considered this blasphemy, so in 2005, he was arrested in the street, imprisoned and tortured for 5 months for anti-state activities
and was facing a life, or even death sentence.
While in prison, a family member smuggled a small MP3 player, and the music gave Yazid the motivation to start working out and encouraged a huge shift in mindset. He reached out to a well connected lawyer who got him out on bail, and he made his way back to the UK where he was granted political asylum. “It is fair to say that music was the reason I am where I am today, listening to my favourite songs elevated my spirit in the darkest of hours and gave fuel to exercise daily, which not only was vital for my emotional and mental health”.
Starting his life from scratch in the UK at the age of 31, Yazid set up Training Tunes to fully explore the relationship between music and athletic performance, how music can instantaneously and drastically alter our mindset and thus alter our reality.
Working with some of the biggest names in sport such as British Muay Thai champion Liam Harrison, Trans Muay Thai fighter Nong Rose Baan Charoensuk and mixed martial artist Alain Ngalani, Training Tunes curate original songs inspired by athletes or sports training, accompanied by a visual story featuring an athlete. They can be accomplished champions or ordinary people with extraordinary backstory of how they chose exercise as a way to fight life’s hardships, with the ultimate aim of encouraging people to change their psychological and mental wellbeing through exercise.
POWER IN MUSIC.
