Tania Saleh
| Tania Saleh/تانيا صالح | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 11, 1969 Beirut, Lebanon |
| Genres | World Music/Alternative Arabic |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | Tantune |
| Website | Official website |
Tania Saleh is a Lebanese singer/songwriter who has been prominent in the Arabic underground musical scene since 1990.
Tania Saleh is a Lebanese singer/songwriter/visual artist who has been a part of the Arabic independent musical scene since 1990. Her voice is a soft mix between the traditional Arabic music she was raised on and the western sounds she chose to follow. She survived the Lebanese civil war that started when she was 6. Saleh began her musical career in her late teens when Alex Bessos, founder of the band Minus Infinitee, in search of a lead vocalist expressed his interest in her voice and invited her to audition for the job of lead singer. Her first live performance was at the West Hall at the American University of Beirut in 1986. The Minus Infinitee experience did not last long because the founder emigrated to the United States.
Saleh enrolled in The Lebanese American University to study Fine Arts but music was always her first love. While in college, she joined many rock bands in search for her own style. Sometimes she had to cross the border between East and West Beirut to do her rehearsals with the musicians. She also wrote and performed jingles for radio commercials for pocket money.
In 1990, after the civil war ended, she left to Paris to get her master's degree in "Arts Plastiques". She lived in a boat on the Seine for a year and fell in love with the beauty of the city. Upon her return, she applied her passion for the arts in the world of television where, for two years, she experimented with image and sound, created illustrations, animations, video art and music jingles.
In 1994, she wanted to discover the world of advertising which opened a new horizon on audio-visual experimentation. During that time she auditioned for an upcoming play by Ziad Rahbany, a famous Lebanese music composer/lyricist/pianist and playwright. She got the chance to sing and act live in two consecutive plays, "Bikhsous el Karameh Wil Shaab el Anid" and "Lawla Foushat el Amal" between 1993 and 1996, and to take part in the backing vocals recording on two cult albums, "Bema Enno" (with the late singer Joseph Sakr) and "Ila Assy" (a tribute to Assy Rahbany by Fairouz).
In 1996, Tania started to work on her solo album "Tania Saleh" with music veteran Issam Hajali ("Al Ard" band). She recorded her first songs at Notta Studio with sound engineer Philippe Tohme who later became her music producer and husband between 1997 and 2011. Ziad Rahbany played piano on two of her tracks, her first single, "Al Ozone" (appeared as an exclusive music video on Future Television) and "Habibi" (written by Issam Hajali, appeared on her first album "Tania Saleh" released in 2002). The album was not considered a mainstream product but Tania started an independent musical movement especially with the growth of the internet community in the Arab world. She performed live in various venues in Lebanon and the Arab world from 2002 to 2004.
...
Wikipedia