Sima: Lebanon's New Voice

It was our last night in Beirut. Kiosk band members Arash Sobhani and Mohammaad Talani were at the end of their two-week tour of the region. The last assignment seemed simple enough: Mohammad and I were meeting Raed El Khazen, a producer/musician to chat about music in Lebanon and the region.

We got more than what we bargained for.

Raed studied music in the US and lived there for more than ten years. "I didn't want to know anything about my part of the world. I totally emersed myself in Western music and culture," he said in an interview at his B-Root studio. "But when I came back to Beirut for a visit four years ago, something clicked. I noticed there's something special happening in the music scene here. There's a creative spirit that's lacking  in the West. Over there they have mastered the science and technique of music, but there's very little innovation."

Raed has put his encyclopedic knowledge of music, academic education and practical experience in sound production with the very best in New York to good use. With a distinct measure of entrepreneurship, he has been searching for new talent. And has found some exceptional ones. For a time he helped the Lebanese super band Mashrou Leila, one of the biggest names in Arab rock.

I ask him to give an example of the hottest talent in Lebanon. "Her name is Sima," he says and immediately I imagine, hope, that with a name like that she could be Iranian. But Sima Itayim is Lebanese, with some Greek cypriot and Palestinian mixed in. She's only 20, but has been singing since she was nine and wrote her first song at 13. There is a mature depth and intensity in her voice. Educated in American high schools in Cyprus and Lebanon, she sings in English.

Raed is producing her first album and hopes to release it in New York before the end of the year. When he played a couple of sample tracks, Mohammad and I were quite blown away. We thought Arash should definitely meet her. We arranged it for the following day before leaving for the airport. Here she is playing one of her songs for us in the studio. I have a feeling we're going to hear a lot from her in the coming years.

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