Issue 7
Qataris Abroad
DANA AL
FARDAN
Taking
centre stage
Dana Al Fardan is Qatar’s leading
contemporary composer, a musician,
songwriter, and symphonic artist. She is the
official composer for Qatar Airways and her
first West End musical, Broken Wings, had
sold-out shows in London and came to Doha
last November.
Dana Al Fardan composes
music in her home
O
ver two million people a month listen to this A compulsory course in Arab studies ignited her The Qatari sea-faring tradition is one element she has
music, which uses the distinctive Arabic rebaba love for the region, however, inspiring her to create drawn on to create the innovative music for which
instrument, and Dana is one of the most widely music. Her sell-out show Broken Wings was based she is famous.
listened to composers in the Middle East. on the life of the poet Khalil Gibran. Her music has become the sound of Qatar, and she Dana, whose next musical Rumi opens in 2020, says from Qatar was the pearl diving tradition,” she says.
is a national icon, acting as a cultural ambassador for her pride in her home country provides inspiration “I’ve incorporated that into my music to provide a
the country internationally. for her art. “Qatar has a very unique place in the new sound, a sound with a level of authenticity that
world and it has a very rich cultural heritage,” she is in demand in classical music with a character and
says. “I want to tell the story of Qatar to a global a texture.”
And yet Dana did not have a traditional musical
education, instead studying international relations
and gemology, so that she could enter the family
business.
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audience. I’m very proud of my heritage and I want
to show the world our colours.”
“One of the things that I’ve personally taken away
“My grandfather’s background is in pearl trading.
Percussion plays a pivotal role in the music of the sea,
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