Lebanese singer, songwriter and visual artist Tania Saleh released a new music video titled Ya Reit (I Wish) on her YouTube channel on 24 August.

The music and lyrics were written by Saleh, who also designed the animated video clip.

With simple music that mainly relies on guitar (Ziad El-Helou) and some clarinet lines, Saleh's lyrics express her wish to escape the world as it is, forget the past and build a new life from scratch on another planet.

"I dream of building a treehouse... I wish... I will build it on another planet... With no sand and no gold... Enough for all the beautiful people... That I love for no reason."

The song is Saleh's first release following the months of political troubles in Lebanon and the recent explosion in Beirut.

Since 1990, Saleh has gained fame in the Middle East and North Africa for her reflections on the social and political problems of her country and region, making an "original mix of Lebanese tarab, mawwal and dabke flavoured with folk, alternative rock, bossa nova and jazz,” as stated in her bio.

She has since made successful collaborations with international and regional artists like Ziad Rahbani, Toufic Farroukh, Charbel Rouhana, Ibrahim Maalouf, RZA, Nile Rodgers, Charlotte Caffey and Oscar-nominated director Nadine Labaki.

Her repertoire comprises several albums: Tania Saleh (2002), Wehde (2011), Live at DRM (2012), Shwayit Souwar (A Few Images, 2014), which she dedicated to the Arab woman, Intersection (2017) and an EP Live in Barcelona (2020).

Saleh’s musicianship extends to Lebanese cinema too, having written lyrics and coached singers for the soundtracks for Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaky’s 2007 film Caramel, as well as Labaky’s 2011 film Where Do We Go Now?

Saleh’s other contributions to cinema include co-writing Rizkallah, the soundtrack to Philippe Aractingi’s 2014 film Héritages.

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