Shisha and camels. And Nancy Ajram!

Howdy folks! I'm back from Tunisia, with a suitcase full of souvenirs and beautiful memories. It was so amazing, I would go back immediately if I could. I went there with my boyfriend. They always say you really get to know each other on vacation. Well, if that's so, then I'm now a hundred percent sure that we belong together.

So, what's typical for Tunisia you ask me? Palmtrees, camels, shisha (waterpipe), couscous and a lot of sand. And many other things, of course. We stayed in a huge all-inclusive hotel in Sousse, we even had a private beach there. The people were lovely, there was a waiter who liked us so much that he offered us to stay at his house so that we wouldn't have to go home.

Now, for the musical part of the vacation... I was in a souvenir shop at one point, and music was playing.. Guess whose music? Nancy Ajram's! I was so excited to hear my favorite Arabic artist! I heard a lot of other Arabic music that I didn't know, and in a media store I found CD's by Latifa, Elissa, Warda and Nancy Ajram, all Arabic artists I know. But most of all, there was a lot of American and European music. At the hotel they played artists like Pitbull, Fun Factory and Spice Girls. In a restaurant at the beach we heard Beyonce's song Why Don't You Love Me and at another hotel they were constantly playing Lady GaGa. At times it made me sad that people listened to so much American music when Arabic music is just as good (if not better). I mean, you can say it makes sense because they don't limit themselves to the Arabic culture, but that would be hypocrite because most people in America and Europe don't listen to music from the Arabic world or the Asian world for example either. So why would they listen to our music to be multi-cultural when we don't listen to theirs?

I don't know much more to write about music in Tunisia, because my vacation was much too active to make time for listening to music.

I do have a funny picture for you guys, of me smoking shisha.. Watch the smoke come out of my nose, lol.

Feel free to comment on this blog!

Love,

Cynthia

Artist Recommendation: Nancy Ajram

Nancy Ajram (or نانسي عجرم) is a popular singer from Lebanon. She makes Arabic pop folk music. A few years ago, I was introduced to her music by a dear friend, he called her the Queen of Arabic music. And.. I agree with him. Over the years I've listened to some other Arabic singers, but Nancy is my favorite. With in the back of my head the information that I'm going on a vacation to Tunisia in a few days, I thought I'd recommend some Arabic music for you all.

My favorite CD by Nancy Ajram is Ah W Noss (if you search for this album, note that it might be spelled differently because it's a translation!). Basically I love every song on that album, from the slow, sad Enta Eih, to the uptempo Taala Ya. These songs make me wanna study Arabic so that I'll be able to understand the lyrics. That is seriously a future goal of mine, studying Arabic. But that aside..

Another great CD is Ya Salam. Yay (Sehr Oyoono) is a beautiful song that you'll probably like from the first time you hear it (if you can appreciate this genre of music). I love Ashkar Aballi (please give this song a chance!), Ahla Jaw, Enta We Bass.. Well basically the entire CD as well..

I must confess I haven't really listened to her other albums as much as these two. I can't help myself, whenever I listen to Nancy I want to hear those songs I already love so I play mostly those. But I also like the song Mashi Haddi from the Betfakar Fi Eih album (again: it might be spelled differently).

Right now I'm checking out Tunisian singer Latifa, and I like what I've heard so far, but it might take me some time to actually be able to give a good review. Other artist recommendations in this genre are (Lebanese singer) Elissa and (Egyptian singer) Amr Diab. Enjoy it. And think of me when I'm in Tunisia by listening to Nancy Ajram!