National Arab Orchestra On the Shoulders of Giants: Arab Women in Music Directed by: Michael Ibrahim February 10, 2018 Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts Aw'edak Composer: Mohamed Sultan, sung by: Suad Mohammed Vocalist: Hela Melki Audio produced by: DAVESCHALLACOUSTIC Video produced by: hawkmedia.us Violins: Layth AlRubaye, Eylem Basaldi, Megan Gould, Laura Harada, Frances Hostetter, Emad Ibrahim, Insia Malik, Fr. Dn. Bassam Nashawati, Roberto Riggio, Katie Van Dusen, Andrea Vercoe, Sachiyo Yoshimoto. Cello: Khaled Khalifa, Double Bass: Jonathan Hammonds. Oud: Victor Ghannam. Qanun: Tony Barhoum. Nay/Director: Michael Ibrahim. Electric Guitar: Edward Gedeon. Synthesizer: Haitham Zbib. Percussion: Ryan Paul Gates, Roger kashou, Gilbert Mansour, Karim Nagi, Tareq Rantisi, Dr. Gursharan Singh Sandhu. Fordson High School Choir: Juana Abdalla, Fatima Alrebaie, Zainab Alrebaie, Maya Berry, Dena Eldirawi, Farrah Hassoun, Sabrina Itawi, Selena Jafer, Amal Khalil, Sarah Qaddoumi, Leila Rustom, Yossr Saihi, Nora Soofi. Aw'edak: Originally sung by Suad Mohammed. Suad Muhammad (1926-2011) was born in Lebanon to an Egyptian father and Lebanese mother. In her early musical life, Muhammad spent time in Syria, performing on radio in Damascus, and training in musical forms such as the muwashshah in the region’s venerable center of traditional music study: Aleppo. Like many other musicians of her time, Muhammad moved to Cairo, the region’s music and film industry capital, in order to pursue commercial opportunities. Her career in Egypt included partnerships with prominent composers such as Riad al-Sunbati, Muhammad al-Qasabji, and Zakariyya Ahmad, who all wrote songs for her to perform. Muhammad’s first film Fitah min Falastin (Girl from Palestine, 1948) featured music by al-Sunbati and al-Qasabji, and it was the first mainstream film to be released in Egypt regarding Palestine’s dire conditions. Although she only appeared in one more film, she was the voice behind several film songs lip-synched by other actresses. Suad Muhammad was a charismatic performer, appearing extensively in concerts until late in her life. She was also a frequent guest on radio programming. Hela Melki (b.October 20th,1981) is a Tunisian born singer. She is known in the Arabic Music Community for many cover songs by famous classic singers such as Ismahan, Warda Al Jazairia , Om Kalthoum , Farid El Atrash , Abdelhalim Hafiz and Mohamad Abdelwahab. She grew up in a family listening to all kinds of Classic Arabic and Western music as well. At a very young age, Hela showed exceptional singing talent and was influenced by her father, a keyboard player and a Singer who was known singing in English and French language. She used to attend most of her father's band rehearsals, in which Western tunes were mostly played at the time.Hela began singing while she was in primary school (1987) and then she joined the high school musical team (1993) and sang throughout the whole scholarship. She was able after her graduation to participate in a lot of Local, National and Regional Music Competitions (1998/2001) , in which she had achieved all the top ranking positions. Hela started following her own path by pursuing the dream of producing Original Songs in collaboration with famous composers and music arrangers. Hela’s self-titled debut song was " Hokm Ezzaman" (2003) and in 2005 she released "Nghir Alik". She has since performed live all over the Arab world as well as many performances throughout Europe. She was decorated the Medal of culture by the Minister of Culture in 2006. Hela was devoted to her musical career by highlighting her Tunisian identity and performing classical and contemporary genres of Arab music. At this point of her young career, the presence of this beautiful and powerful voice attracted several Tunisian composers and musicians until she got introduced in 2007 to one of the most respected names in Music industry in Tunisia, Maestro "Abdelhakim Belgaied" with whom she recorded six new soundtracks from different poets (2009). To find out more about the National Arab Orchestra visit our website at www.NationalArabOrchestra.org or email us at info@nationalaraborchestra.org