The rising musical talent, Ghaliaa Chakir, stands out among other artists in the Arab World as a writer, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Her first debut song, Why, became a big hit and was chosen for The Best of 2018 playlist by Apple Music Mena.
Ghaliaa has outgrown the cultural confines and is following her heart by pursuing her passion with her blissful vocals while wearing a veil. She has caught the attention of the wider region with diverse songs encapsulating her diverse musical palette. She presents a mixture of Arabic and Western music, making her a regular on the airwaves in the UAE.
“For me, my headscarf is my pride; I value and respect it and see it as a motivation for success. The veil has never prevented me from growing or trying new things. I am a very adventurous person, and music or art, in general, should not force any artist to give up their values for fame or to fit into a particular idea or culture,” says Ghaliaa.
The young rising talent plays drums, guitar, darbuka, and piano and performs in multiple languages, including Arabic, French, English, Turkish, Armenian, and Spanish. Her family challenged her and nourished her passion for music by introducing new instruments. She was just six when she had already fallen in love with drums, guitar, darbuka, and piano. “To me, the piano is calm, the guitar is magic, the drums are the pulse, and the darbuka is happiness. From a young age, I started playing music by ear; I’d listen to different genres of music, watch other musicians play and instantly try to play it on my instrument or sing it.”
After almost a decade of practicing different instruments, Ghaliaa began considering her vocal ability in 2016. “I remember watching these talent shows with my parents. They told me that I had a good voice and I should sing,” she recalls. “I didn’t have the courage at that stage, but they kept reminding me and motivating me, and it began from there.”
Ghaliaa’s family moved from Syria to the Emirates when she was just five months old. She grew up in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, with her parents, sister, and brother and earned her Bachelor of Mass Communication degree from the Al Ain campus of Abu Dhabi University. She began performing in talent shows and cultural showcases in and around Al Ain. During this time, she also began penning her own songs, which marked the start of her career at sixteen. This was the year she released her first original single because she says she “felt ready.”
Career highlights
What once started as a hobby for Ghaliaa is now a serious endeavor. “I chose to write simple words without complications, words that relate to the details of daily life from feeling loved and successful to dealing with loss.”
The Syrian star’s music fuses R&B, Electropop, Indie, and Jazz and draws its influence from country music. She introduced herself to the world in August 2018 with the R&B rocker Why and has become a regular on the airwaves in the UAE since then. It is a straight-up torch song with her lovelorn voice hovering above a skeletal piano backdrop. The follow-up was Kel El Kalam, released two weeks later, featuring Ghaliaa switching both style and language in a flirtatious indie/pop song. Her tracks Why and Kel El Alam, both down-tempo, are laced with a welcome ruggedness that can only come with experience. Their release to the world signaled the end of the process as well as the beginning of a new chapter for the artist.
Ghaliaa released two more singles the same year, Praying/Je Prie, a glacial ode to forgiveness and redemption sung in English and French. Listeners were surprised by her dropping the elegiac Praying/Je Prie, and the music video was released later, shot on the Jebel Hafeet. The second release was the radio-friendly Arabic power-ballad Shou Bidak, establishing Ghaliaa as a real singer-songwriting talent. With the music world sitting up and taking notice, it’s fitting that her songs have been added to radio playlists across Syria and the middle east, and she has been receiving fan mail from as close to home as Abu Dhabi and as far as Berlin.
Achievements
In 2018, Ghaliaa was among the four finalists of Yasalam’s Emerging Talent Competition (ETC), a part of the entertainment activities aimed to promote and strengthen the local music industry. Its judging panel comprised Mark Abou Jaoudeh from Anghami, Oliver Wood from electronic duo Hollaphonic, Reiner Erlings from Reiner Erling’s Music, and Rania Hamadeh from Universal Music Mena.
She was also featured in Emirates Woman’s Balcony Sessions at the Apple Store, Dubai Mall, in December 2018. Her song, Why, was chosen for The Best of 2018 playlist by Apple Music Mena.
In 2020, Ghaliaa performed in UAE’s largest online music festival, The Beat DXB Lockdown, which featured 33 artists performing over nine hours. They performed a ten-minute set from home, using the social media platform Instagram.
Ghaliaa has released two albums titled Amygdala and Kel Yli Sar, and her discography includes more than thirty songs. Some of her most famous songs are 3abali, Nas, Cause You Trouble, Don’t You Dare, Praying, and Go Away.
Currently, she resides in Dubai, UAE, pursuing her music career as she sings about faith and love. The confident Syrian singer, songwriter, composer, producer, and multi-instrumental is carving her own path in the music industry while wearing a veil. She says, “There are way too many incredible women who have conquered whatever they wanted to with passion and while wearing the hijab. So I don’t know what the people who say these things are talking about.”
