Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Always Evolving And Fresh Tamer Abu Ghazaleh @Tamer_AG

In your dictionary, if you wanted to look Indie Arab musician, you may as well find a picture of Tamer Abu Ghazaleh. Born to Palestinian parents in the city of Cairo, He grew up there and legend has it he started to sing at age two and composed music at the tender age of ten. He is  composer of alternative Arabic music, and an Oud, Buzuq, and vocal performer.

Tamer cares for Palestine so much, but he thinks the cause should not mean not paying attention to his music. This is why Tamer seeks alternative music, he just does not want Arabic music as is, he wants to expand its definition and take it into new territories. Uncharted one, most of the time these ideas do not attract producers and companies, but Tamer's music has found a growing audience around the world. I have seen him perform in Washington DC few years back. Now he has already sold out concerts in Beirut, Alexandria, Cairo, Amman and Tunis.

Aside from his own songs and his play on the oud, Mr. Abu Ghazaleh has been an active musical collaborator for many years. Projects include: starting the cross-genre group Kazamada (2010); working with Palestinian & Egyptian artists on Jehar (with Huda Asfour), Duo Buzuq (with Rabea Jubran) and Kalam Mazzika (with Salam Yousry); and performing on Khaled Jubran's Psalms (2005). In 2008, Tamer released Thawret Ala (Revolution of Worry), a collaborative piece of musical theatre that was performed by the Al-Tamye Theatre Group.

I cannot help but enjoy his style of music, and performance. He is an indie storyteller, and growing in Egypt allowed him to have a funny bone that shows in his live performances. The Palestinian within him resilience and resourcefulness. His songs are unpredictable, you can never what he will say next. And you can never tell if he will cry, make you cry or tell a joke. So he sings About love, hate, comfort, boredom, excitement and everything before and after.

On a different note, as Palestinians are used to listening to Egyptian singers, they produce so many more songs and have many more artists. It means a lot to see one of our own entertain the people of Egypt. Tamer is not mainstream, but the well-read people and activists appreciate his talent.  

قعدة مزيكا | تامر أبو غزالة - الـخَد


قعدة مزيكا | تامر أبو غزالة - خبر عاجل

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