Last night we had the great pleasure of attending Sonia M’barek’s concert in the Hammamet Festival.
We got invitations to the concert through my aunt, whose husband Hammadi Ben Othman composed most of Sonia’s new songs and who was leading the orchestra at the concert.
Sonia M’barek isn’t really well known outside of Tunisia, but she sure as hell should be.
She’s one of the greatest Arab women singers of our time. I actually put her up there with people like Majda El Roumi and Feirooz.
Attending her concert yesterday was truly a great pleasure.
The lyrics were wonderful, the music magical and her voice was so beautiful, pure and strong.
Listening to people like this performing lyrics like this to music like this is really what ears were created for.
She’s very classy, and her audience are tasteful classy people too.
The amphitheatre wasn’t packed like it would be in other concerts for pop artists, but the people who were there were real music lovers and people who appreciated true art.
She doesn’t have to strip down to as little clothes as possible or dance around like a mad person to capture her audiences’ attention. Her amazing voice, awesome live performance, high class and pure un-plastified beauty are enough to do that and lift her audience to the skies she’s soaring to with her performance.
As I already mentioned, the music was great. It was Arabic music that certainly showed the Tunisian flavor in it and some of it’s Andalusian origins.
The lyrics were beautiful too, most of them written by the Tunisian poet Mohamed Boudheena. The concert was dedicated to his soul as he passed away earlier this year.
To not make it any longer. The concert was super great, we truly enjoyed it and had so much fun. I’m buying her album as soon as I can. And I advise anyone who really appreciates great music to check her out. She truly rocks big time.
She is undoubtedly THE Tunisian Diva.
