Egyptian audiences have a rendezvous with Syrian-Swedish singer Faia Younan who is scheduled to hold a concert at the Cairo Opera House on 2 August, followed by a second concert at Bibliotheca Alexandrina on 4 August as part of the 14th Bibliotheca Alexandrina International Summer Festival. 

Born in Aleppo, Syria in June 1992, Younan moved with her family to Sweden at the age of eleven, where “her innate talent started to shine as she began singing and playing piano at a very young age at family gatherings,” reads the description section on her Facebook page. 

At the age of 19, Younan was already performing in Stockholm-based cultural events, “carrying the warmth of oriental melodies with her,” reads her biography section on her website.

The Arab audience was introduced to Younan in 2014, when she along with her sister Rihan launched a video titled “To Our Countries,” where the duo addressed “the war-torn countries of the Levant,” combining spoken word and music and revisiting famous Arab songs that tugged at the region’s poignancies.

The video was released via Youtube, and has since garnered over 3 million views.  

Since then, Younan, who holds a Master of Arts in Economics and Business Management from the University of Glasgow, has been moulding her music vocation, performing covers for the Arab world’s music icons like Fairouz, Zaki Nassif and Sayyed Darwish.

Younan also has a total of three original singles, including the famous Ohebbou Yadayka which was released in June 2015 and quickly proved a hit on YouTube with over 3 million views.

Programme:
Tuesday 2 August, 8pm
Cairo Opera House, Open Air Theatre, Zamalek, Cairo

Thursday 4 August, 8.30pm
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Open Air Theatre, Alexandria

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture