The haunting classical vocals set to cool jazz arrangements are arresting and quite matchless, drawing on traditions ranging from the jazz clubs of New York to the record stores of Old Damascus.
Less than three years ago, Lena Chamamyan was relatively unknown, a young Syrian vocalist with a classical music education, struggling to make it in the music business.
Today, Chamamyan, along with Basel Rajoub, a fellow Syrian with a jazz trumpet background, are widely popular in the Middle East and especially in the vast community of Middle Eastern expatriates spread across the globe.
Their success owes as much to the mastery of traditional music, their ability to seamlessly fuse Western and Eastern genres, and to the power of the Internet.
It takes a village to reach a global audience
Born into a family of music lovers, Chamamyan has been immersed in classical singing since childhood. She studied at a music conservatory in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo, where she met Rajoub.
A trumpeter by training, Rajoub was studying jazz at the conservatory, a tradition he introduced to Chamamyan. “I grew up with traditional oriental music,” she says. “But I loved jazz.”
They called their music “Oriental Jazz”- a name that embraces their peculiar blend of traditional melodies, often set to jazz instrumentations incorporating the piano, sax or other brass instruments.
At first, they tested out their new sound in small villages across Syria. “We wanted to convey the soul of the tradition through the harmony of jazz,” said Chamamyan. “And in villages, people who lead simple lives enjoyed the simplicity of the music,” she added.
Their careers took off in 2006 when, accompanied by the trumpet-playing Rajoub, Chamamyan won the Radio Monte Carlo Moyen Orient Award in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
The prize allowed her to record a first album, “Hal Asmar el Lon,” which quickly became a worldwide hit.
Tapping into Facebook, YouTube and other video-sharing site
The darling of music critics' second album, “Shamat,” has turned out to be as promising as her first one. Half of the titles are original creations. It was funded anonymously. “This was a choice we made, to strictly rely on independent labels,” she said. “I refuse to be tied down by some exclusivity clause.”
The Internet though, is her biggest marketing asset, especially video-sharing sites such as YouTube. Besides an official web site, Chamamyan also has a Facebook page. “Internet is very usefull to work and make yourself known,” she says. “Thanks to Facebook, I know what fans think.”
Majd Eid is one such fan. He’s an active member in the singer’s Facebook fan groups. “Fans of Lena can easily contact her, share her songs and get news from all over the world,” he says.
