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Hiba Tawaji

Musical artist

Hiba Michel Tawaji (Arabic: هبة ميشال طوجي; born 10 December 1987) is a Lebanese singer, actress, and director. Since 2008, she established herself in the Lebanese and Arab music scene as a major artist recognized for her vocal skills. She has a 4-octave vocal range.

She played the main female role in well-known Rahbani musicals. She also participated in the fourth season of France's version of The Voice, in which she was coached by Mika. After The Voice, she signed with Mercury Records in 2015. On 30 May 2016, it was announced that Tawaji will join the cast of Notre-Dame de Paris as Esmeralda in the revival of the musical. She also has 4 Arabic musicals and 4 studio albums all produced by Oussama Rahbani.

On 19 September 2020, she married the French-Lebanese musician Ibrahim Maalouf.

Contents

  • 1 Early life and education
  • 2 The Voice
  • 3 Discography
    • 3.1 Albums
  • 4 Filmography
    • 4.1 TV series
    • 4.2 Musicals
    • 4.3 Dubbing
  • 5 Hiba Tawaji 30
  • 6 Live shows
    • 6.1 Concerts with the NSOU
    • 6.2 Ya Habibi "live show"
  • 7 Awards
  • 8 References
  • 9 External links

Early life and education

Born in Achrafieh, Beirut to Lebanese Orthodox parents, she grew up in Elissar, in the Matn District. She learned music at a young age. She trained at an early age in opera and cl*ical singing, then in modern style. From 1990 and until 2005, Tawaji studied at the Athenee de Beyrouth School and received her BA in French literature.

From 2002 until 2007, she took singing lessons and solfeggio at Ecole des Arts Gh*an Yammine. She then went to Saint Joseph University of Beirut, IESAV, and majored in audio-visual and cinematographic studies, earning her B.A. in 2010. Tawaji also trained in directing and acting. She obtained her bachelor's degree in 2012 with a short movie written and directed by her, *led The Rope. It won many prizes in film festivals across the Arab World (ZUMEFF, NDU Film Festival, Outbox Film Festiva, etc.).

Singing in French, English, and Arabic, she was noticed by producers and composers in the Middle East. Oussama Rahbani became her producer. They have since collaborated on multiple projects.

Between May and July 2010, she took vocal lessons with Emmy Award winner Gwen Conley in New York. In that same period, she followed a three-month intensive acting workshop at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

The Voice

In 2015, Tawaji took part in the fourth season of The Voice: la plus belle voix, France's version of The Voice. In the blind auditions, she auditioned with "Les Moulins de mon cœur" by Michel Legrand. All four judges, Mika, Florent Pagny, Jenifer and Zazie, turned their chairs. Tawaji opted to be in Team Mika. The blind audition was broadcast on day 3 of the auditions on 24 January 2015.

On 7 March 2015, in the Battles Round, Mika put her against Nög, another contestant in his team, both co-singing in "Mon amie la rose" from Françoise Hardy. Mika chose to keep Tawaji to the next round, with Nög being stolen by coach Zazie.

On 28 March, during the "L'Épreuve ultime" round, she sung "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. She ended up staying in the Top 3 of Team Mika alongside Sharon Laloum and Yann'Sine Jebli, with David Thibault being stolen by Mika from Team Florent Pagny as a fourth new member of Team Mika.

In the live rounds, she sang "Everytime" from Britney Spears and was saved by public vote as top pick from Team Mika. In the second live round, she sang "Amoureuse" from Véronique Sanson again ending as public favourite from Team Mika with the biggest number of votes. Mika also opted to keep David Thibaut as Top 2 in his team.

In the semi-finals held on April 18, she confronted David Thibault in a bid to represent Team Mika in the final. She sang "Pas là" from Vianney, but lost to Thibault in the public vote, with the latter going to the 25 April 2015 final. Tawaji ended up finishing joint 5th to 8th place for the season.

Discography

Albums

  • 2009: Sayf 840 "صيف 840" (Highlights and the complete version) by Mansour Rahbani
  • 2012: La Bidayi Wala Nihayi "لا بداية ولا نهاية", (Oussama Rahbani feat. Hiba Tawaji)
  • 2011: Don Quixote (by Marwan, Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani)
  • 2014: Ya Habibi "يا حبيبي"
  • 2015: We Love Disney (best of)
  • 2016: Notre Dame de Paris (the album)
  • 2017: Hiba Tawaji 30 double album, produced by Oussama Rahbani
  • April 2017: Track "Solidarité" in Mathieu Chedid's album Lamomali
  • Christmas album "Hallelujah" produced by Oussama Rahbani (2017)
  • Aladdin OST (2019): songs Ce rêve bleu (A Whole New World) and Parler (Speechless)

Filmography

  • 2013: "The Rope" Al Habla - directed by Hiba Tawaji
  • 2014: "Al Rabih al Arabi" - concept by Hiba Tawaji, Oussama Rahbani, and Ghadi Rahbani (video clip as a short movie) - directed by Serge Orien.
  • 2017: A year to remember" do*entary by Hiba Tawaji, directed by Nader Mousally.
  • 2019: Disney's Aladdin where Tawaji dubbed Jasmine's talking and singing in the French version of the film.
  • "Hiba Tawaji live in Cairo, the Do*entary" by Hiba Tawaji, directed by Nader Mousally.
  • "Hiba Tawaji live in Carthage, the do*entary" by Hiba Tawaji, directed by Nader Moussally.
  • "les mystères de la chorale" French TV movie produced by France 3, Hiba Tawaji dubbed the voice of 18-year-old victim "Sabrya".
  • "Hiba Tawaji - the do*entary "LIVE at Mawazine festival (2018)" directed by Nader Mousally.
  • "Hiba Tawaji - the do*entary "LIVE at Hammamet festival (2018)" directed by Nader Mousally.

TV series

  • HAWAS 2020, starring Abed Fahed and Hiba Tawaji, directed By Mohamad Lotfy, written by Nadia Ahmar.
  • Elena Of Avalor, the Arabic version of the Disney animated series in 2017. Hiba Tawaji dubbed the singing role of princess Elena.

Musicals

  • 2008: Byblos International Festival: "عودة الفينيق" The Return of the Phoenix (by Oussama Rahbani),
  • 2008: Dubai: "عودة الفينيق" The Return of the Phoenix (by Oussama Rahbani)
  • 2008/2009: Casino du Liban: "عودة الفينيق" The Return of the Phoenix (by Oussama Rahbani)
  • 2009: Byblos International Festival: "صيف 840" Summer 840 (by Mansour Rahbani)
  • 2009: 2010 Casino du Liban: "صيف 840" Summer 840 (by Mansour Rahbani)
  • 2010/2016/2019- Qatar: "ملوك الطوائف" Moulouk Al Tawaef and tannourine festivals/Tannourine festivals/carthage Festivals, Tunisia.
  • 2011: Byblos International Festival: Don Quixote (by Marwan, Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani)
  • 2016/2017/2018/2019/2020: Notre dame de Paris (Paris-Taiwan-Geneva-junieh-all French cities-Brussels-Moscow-Istanbul-St Petersburg-All Canadian Cities-London-Korea-China-New York)

Dubbing

  • Aladdin: Jasmine (Naomi Scott), French version

Hiba Tawaji 30

Hiba Tawaji 30 is a Lebanese album by Hiba Tawaji Produced by Oussama Rahbani it consists of 30 songs on two CDs. The first CD contains 15 original songs, most of them written by Ghadi Rahbani with five songs written by Oussama Rahbani. It was named "30" for holding 30 songs; plus, Oussama wanted his day to have 30 hours, so he could get a break after a full day.

While CD 2 contains 15 songs, most of them were already released as singles by Tawaji as "metl l reeh", "yemken habaytak", and "metl l chajar" and the others were either covers from famous Arabic stars, including "enta omri" by Um Kalthum and "ahou dalli sar" by Said Darwich or songs taken from rahbani musicals, such as "eza feek tghayer aklal" from Molok el Tawaef and "matrah ma bi waddi l sawt" from Awdat el Phiniq.

There is additional electronics in the songs "Yala Nerkos" and "Hkini" by Fred Savio and "enta habibi" and "tir w alli" by Roger abi Akl in addition to the orchestral songs either by the National Ukrainian Orchestra conducted Byby Vladimir Sirenko or by the Lebanese Orchestra conducted by Michel Khairallah.

The last song in the album was produced by Disney. It is "Haza Zamani" from the series Elana of Avalor. A music video for this song was released a few weeks later.

The album came after a music video for the song "bghanilak ya watani". The music video showed the old Lebanon, how it is today, and how people dream Lebanon be. It was directed by Hiba Tawaji with the help of Emile Adaimy. The album was released on 30 March 2017 in Virgin Mega Stores, Lebanon and then to the rest of the Arabic countries.

Tracklist:

  1. Aarafta Am La
  2. Tir W Aalli
  3. Wahdi La hali
  4. Khalli El Waet Yehki
  5. Enta Habibi
  6. La Twakhzouna
  7. Enta L Fellayt
  8. Yalla Norkos
  9. Aylan
  10. Hkini
  11. Eza Rejih W Alli Bhebbik
  12. Hayda Chaabi
  13. La Chou Ehtam
  14. Bghannilak Ya Watani
  15. Eza Kel Adyan El Aalam
  16. Ahou Da Li Sar
  17. Al Nizam Al Jadid
  18. Enta Omri/Elli Ya Habibi
  19. Bkhatrak
  20. Yemken Habaytak
  21. Kel Ma Mnerjaa
  22. Balad Al Tanaod
  23. Awlad Al Chawareh
  24. Eza Fik Tghayer Aklak
  25. Metl El Rih
  26. Sayf W Sahra
  27. Matrah Ma Bi Waddi El Sawt
  28. Metl Chajar Mazrouiin
  29. Haza Zamani-My Time (Disney- Elena Of Avalor)
  30. La Omri

Live shows

Tawaji and Oussama perform live shows that mix music, dancing, acting, and singing. After their first show "ya habibi", Tawaji and Oussama performed at the Byblos Festivals 2015. Also, they performed at the Zahle festivals and the Arabic women and the symphonic show at Egypt 2018.

Tawaji and Oussama have a show compiling ten years of work called TEN. It was at the fifth of August 2017 (the 10th year for Tawaji as a singer) at the Cedars festivals. It was done with the Lebanese orchestra conducted by Oussama Rahbani and a team of dancers c*ographed by Pascale Sayegh Zgheib

Then, in 2019, Tawaji performed a show at Aqaba, Jordan produced by Oussama Rahbani.

Concerts with the NSOU

Performing with the NSOU (National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine), conducted by Maestro Volodimir Sirenko. Produced and Orchestrated by Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani.

  • March 2013: Abu Dhabi Festival: With the NSOU National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Conducted by Maestro Vladimir Sirenko. Produced and Orchestrated by Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani.
  • July 2013: Byblos International Festival: Lebanon: "Rahbani Summer Night". With the NSOU National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Conducted by Maestro Vladimir Sirenko. Produced and Orchestrated by Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani.
  • April 2014: Oman ROH (Royal Opera House Muscat): Oman: 2 concerts, with the NSOU National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Conducted by Maestro Vladimir Sirenko. Produced and Orchestrated by Ghadi and Oussama Rahbani.

Other Rahbani concerts

  • Bahrain International festival (Rahbaniat)
  • 2016: Rahbani Summer Night: Dead Sea Festival, Jordan
  • 2018: Rahbani Dream Night at Opera Dubai

Ya Habibi "live show"

  • 2014: Ya Habibi: big concert "show": Oussama Rahbani presented Hiba Tawaji in concert, sounds, lights, dance and visuals.
  • August 2014: Batroun International Festival: Lebanon: "Ya Habibi": Tawaji performed songs taken from the albums "Ya Habibi", "La bidayi wala nihayi", "Don Quixote" among other hit songs. Concept by Oussama Rahbani and Hiba Tawaji, Lyrics by the Great Mansour Rahbani and Ghadi Rahbani, Composed, Arranged and Produced by Oussama Rahbani, Directed by Marwan Rahbani.
  • November 2014: Casino du Liban: Lebanon: 2 concerts, "Ya Habibi": Tawaji performed songs taken from the albums "Ya Habibi", "La bidayi wala nihayi", "Don Quixote" among other hit songs. Concept by Oussama Rahbani and Hiba Tawaji, Lyrics by the Great Mansour Rahbani and Ghadi Rahbani, Composed, Arranged and Produced by Oussama Rahbani, Directed by Marwan Rahbani.

Awards

  • November 2011: BIAF: Beirut International Award Festival in Pavillon Royal/Biel: Beirut

References

    External links

    • Media related to Hiba Tawaji at Wikimedia Commons
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    Beirut, Beyrouth