Hiba Tawaji's Arabic career: Oussama Rahbani, Tarik and Baad Snin
Before her Dubai Opera night with Ibrahim Maalouf on 27 November, the Arabic albums and stage work that built her name.
Hiba Tawaji returns to Dubai Opera on Friday 27 November with Ibrahim Maalouf. French audiences know her from Notre-Dame de Paris, but her career was built in Arabic, in a long partnership with composer and producer Oussama Rahbani.
Rahbani became her producer after hearing her audition, and Wikipedia describes the collaboration as running without a contract. In 2008 she released her first singles, Metl El Rih and Helm, and took her first lead role in the Rahbani musical The Return of the Phoenix, which was staged at Byblos, in Dubai and at Casino du Liban. Sayf 840, Moulouk Al Tawaef and Don Quixote followed on stage.
Her Arabic albums trace the same partnership. La Bidayi Wala Nihayi (2012) opens with an Arabic version of The Windmills of Your Mind, Ya Habibi followed in 2014, and in 2017 she released Hiba Tawaji 30, a double album of 30 songs, plus a Christmas album, Hallelujah.
Her most popular song, according to Wikipedia, is Tarik, the official soundtrack of a 2018 Ramadan series. In December 2017 she became the first woman to perform on stage in Saudi Arabia, and in 2018 she sold out Dubai Opera. In 2022 she recorded Que Será Será (Law Nebka Sawa) with Luis Fonsi.
Her latest album, Baad Snin, came out in 2023 with 13 songs. It was her first with a record company, Universal Arabic Music, with Rahbani supervising the production, and the title track is sung in Egyptian dialect. She has described the project as building bridges between countries and cultures, Glob'Art reported.
Hiba Tawaji & Ibrahim Maalouf: À La FrançaiseFri 27 Nov · Dubai Opera, Dubai See ticketsSource: Wikipedia: Hiba Tawaji, Glob'Art
