No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place - Zen

Watching them makes me so happy :') 

The Beauty of Lyrics...

I've recently discovered Fairouz, and I'm in love with her lyrics. So poetic, so touching, so moving, so beautiful. I could keep going on and on but I'm just gonna show you :D

Example 1: Ya Loure Hobboki

يا لور حبك

يا لور حبك قد لوّع الفؤاد
وقد وهبتك الحب والوداد
ألا تذكري ليالي الصفا
وعهداً عهدناه على الوفا

الليل والأنسام والبلبل الشاكي
وسترة الأنغام والقلب يهواكِ
كم أزهرت أحلام بالحب والصفا
ظهرت بها الأيام مثل الغفا

الليل والأحلام والشاطئ النادي
والشوق والأنغام والموطن الهادي
يا طيبها أيام أحلى من الصفا
وتنشد الأنغام على الوفا

 Oh Laura

Oh Laura
Your love has tormented my heart
And I had given you my love and affection
Don't you recall our wonderful nights together
And the pledge we made to be true to each other?

The night, the breeze and the wailing nightingale
And the veil of melodies, as my heart loved you
So many dreams of love and purity blossomed
In them, days seemed like slumber

The night, the dreams and the wet shore
Longing, song, and the calm countryside
Those were such fine days, so wonderful and pure
When the melodies sang of loyalty and devotion

Example 2: Bint El Shalabiya

البنت الشلبية

البنت الشلبية
عيونها لوزية
بحبك من قلبي
ياقلبي انت عنيا

حد القناطر
محبوبي ناطر
كسر الخواطر
ياولفي ماهان عليا

بتطل بتلوح و القلب مجروح
و أيام عالبال بتعن و تروح

تحت الرمانة
حبي حكاني
وسمعني غناني
ياعيوني
وتغزل فيا

 The Shalabi Girl


The Shalabi girl
She has almond eyes
I love you from the bottom of my heart
Oh sweetheart, you are everything to me (literally, you are my eyes)

Under the arches
My love is waiting
It wasn't easy for me to let you down, my love

You appear in the distance and my heart is wounded
And I reminisce about days past

Under the pomegranate tree
My love spoke to me
Sang me songs and flirted with me

Note: Shalabi means something along the lines of "from the village" or "down-to-earth"

Example 3: Oudk Rannan

عودك رنان

عودك رنان رنة عودك الي
عيدا كمان ضلك عيد يا علي
سمعني العود
عالعالي عيدا كمان..عيدا كمان

دق ضلك دق قلي النغمه لكي

نغمه عالحق واحلى من الحكي

نغمه بتفوت .. ع قلبي

جامع هالناس على صوت الوتر

وترك حساس حاجه تزن عالوتر

تأثرت كتير.

عليهن .. عيدا كمان وعيدا كمان

دق قوي الدق وعي كل البشر

الليل مش للنوم هون الليل للسهر

انت دقيق انت الزويق سمعنا

Your Oud is Resonant

Your oud is resonant
Lemme here the sound of your oud
Play it again, keep playing it
Lemme here the oud
Play it loud again and again

Strum and keep strumming

Tell me this tune is for you

A true song and more beautiful than words

Play a tune that enters my heart

All these people have gathered around the sound of your strings

That string is sensitive, quit playing on the same string (what she is saying here is that he's really hit her soft spot with what he's playing, and the underlying meaning is that she's in love with him and she's really affected by what he's playing)

You've really moved me

Play it again and again

Strum and strum hard til you wake up everyone

Night is not for sleeping here it's for staying up late

You play so well, play for us

Some weird yet wonderful instruments...

In my endeavor to learn about the wide world of music, it's many shapes and forms and the love humans have for it, I have discovered some amazing instruments that I will share with all of you now! :)

1. Kora:

My dad actually introduced me to this instrument. He said he found it on youTUBE while surfing one day. I'm so glad he did because it's just stunning. It's made out of a stick of wood and half a vegetable covered in hide. I'm not kidding!



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2. Giant Portuguese Guitar:

This is pretty cool. I should commission someone to make me a giant oud. :) And then I can live in it! :D MUAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! :$

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3. Theorbo:

The theorbo is the name given to a family of European lutes that date back aggeeessss ago to around the 1600s and earlier. I just found a little video of it on youTUBE and thought it was so pretty. :)

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4. Electric Cello:

Okay, this is not that weird an instrument, but come on, it's SO DIFFERENT (but awesome).

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5. Kalimba:

THERE ARE NO WORDS!!!! Just watch...



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What's your favorite out of these? Do you know any weird but wonderful instruments? :)

Royal Opera House Muscat Inauguration Season Continues!!!

So excited about the acts that are coming up this second half of the season for several reasons. One of them is that a very famous and successful Tunisian jazz musician is coming to perform in March. He is without a doubt one of my favorite contemporary oud players. His name is Anouar Brahem and this is one of the many amazing songs he plays.

The Great Arabic Songbook is a production being held in honor of the greats, ranging from the epitome of talent Um Kalthoum to the adored Mohammed Abdu.

A Maestro

Another act coming along is very interesting. So interesting in fact that I must be present! It's a night dedicated to "Exhilarating Rhythm", which consists (to my understanding) of Japanese and Omani drummers! TOO. COOL.

Japanese Drummer

The main reason, I must admit is that a very awesome someone is playing at the concert! :D Well, he's accompanying another very established and talented oud player, but the person I'm talking about is Salim Al Maqrashi, my oud mentor! :D So excited for him! And since I'm his protege, I just have to go! This is the reasoning I've used on my parents. ;)

Ammar Al Sherei

Salim and I after one of my concerts

What performances are you excited about seeing this half of the season?

2012: The year I feel famous :$

Hello my lovelies! It's now the 5th day of the new year, and what a WONDERFUL year it's been so far!! I hope all of you share my good luck ;) Guess what? I have some great news!

Since the concert in December I (along with my friends from the OHA) have been featured in several newspapers and magazine across the country. I was in some Arabic newspapers and English ones including the Week and the Observer. I was also in this annual book called the Tribute which is suppose to celebrate Oman and all the things that have been accomplished that year. I'm also in a Emirati magazine called Shabab 20/Young, but I've yet to see that one! :$

Also, I was told Sunday night that Oman TV would be coming in the next day to film me and some other players for this new program they are doing weekly. So one of my performances will be aired on Friday, January 6th at night from 9 to 10 pm. However I'm not sure which channel exactly since there are two, I believe.

Stay tuned and hope you guys enjoy it! :D

NOTE: My performance will be postponed till next week :$

The best experience of my life...

Hello blog land! I haven't posted in what I believe has been a VERY long time, and for that I apologize! I've be so very busy with school (I was in the 25th Anniversary Concert that had 5 acts in a row everyday) and with the Oud Hobbyist Association. The Oud Hobbyist Association had their annual concert on the 21st at the Al Bustan Palace Oman Auditorium and I received the great pleasure of participating. I met so many new people, musicians and non musicians alike through this experience and was really able to develop as a performer and socially! This really was one of the best experiences of my life and I can already tell that the oud is going to remain a big part of my life. And yes, I know this even though I've only been playing for about 8 months!!! :$

Here are some photos from the event! <33

 Here we are practicing at the Al Bustan Palace Oman Auditorium the day before the concert :D

The players taking a well deserved break. Yes that is me practicing in the verrryyyy back! :$

On stage at the concert performing :)

A group shot of all the oud players, percussion players, accompanying instruments and singers. 

I apologize for my neglect.

I haven't blogged in twenty days. I don't know if that's a record for me but I do know it's a VERY long time. I have been so busy. Specially over the break. I was basically working on school work or something like that all day and then from about 6 or 7 to 12 I would be out at a coffee shop with my group of friends. Of course, they're all ages older than me but I don't mind. I still have fun and it's better for me; especially since I'm so mature and don't really get along with people my own age. My mother said I act like a 40-something-year-old even though I'm a teenager. :$

Anyways, some crazy stuff is about to go down. I have concerts coming up for oud, in which I have solos and everything! I'm so excited and nervous and I'm just practicing and practicing and practicing! I've also got some cool new ideas and events under-wraps, which I will share as soon as possible. I hope my lovely followers will support me and join in the festivities here in Muscat if they can. It would be greatly appreciated. ;)

I wanted to share two trailers for  movies I'm dying to see. The first one is 6'l el b7r (to read the post on Arabic Chat, click here), Dhil El Bahar or Sea Shadow. It's an all Emirati movie made by a Abu Dhabi film company and filmed in Ra's Al Khaima.

The second one is called Or Noir. It has a French title due to the fact that it has a French director, but the movie is in English.

I'm a little worried about the whole accent thing and how Arabic in Western made movies are always pathetic, but it looks like it's promising. Also, the whole Antonio Banderas portraying an Arab with his Spanish accent, which will always remind me of Puss in Boots, might cause to me to laugh uncontrollably throughout the movie, but we shall see. ;)

Oh, and guess what?! Remember that song I really wanted to learn? It's called Alasfoor Altaer. My teacher taught it to me over the course of two days and now I'm perfecting it! Will try to post a video when I'm finished. ;) To see the post I'm referring to, click here.

Can't explain how happy I am to be back in blogland and I hope to hear from you all soon! :*

P.S. I've become a bit of a twitter addict, and now visit it more than facebook. To follow me, click the pink "Follow Me" button to the left of the screen.