Tania Saleh

Tania Saleh is a Lebanese singer/songwriter/visual artist who has been paving her own path in the independent Arabic underground musical scene since 1990.
Her voice is a soft mix between the traditional Arabic music she was raised on and the western sounds she chose to follow. She writes about the daily worries of a troubled society, of love and hate and what’s in between. Her music follows the rhythm of her daily life and mirrors her changing mood, creating a boiling pot of tunes,
feelings and love for innovation. Her visual style also helped to create a unique artistic image that made her stand out from the Arabic commercial musical scene.
Tania graduated from La Sorbonne, Paris in 1992 with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and has been working in the creative audio-visual industry since then.
She was an illustrator, a backing vocalist and an actress in famous Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbany’s musical and theatrical work between 1993 and 1996.
She collaborated with renowned Lebanese musicians Toufic Farroukh, Issam Hajali, Charbel Rouhana, Iman Homsy and Mounir Khawli in various albums.
In 2002, she released her first album, "Tania Saleh (co-produced by music producer/sound engineer Philippe Tohme). She also wrote the lyrics to Natasha Atlas’ song “Communicate” released in Lebanese band Blend’s one and only album “Act One”. In 2005, she wrote the lyrics to “Mreyte Ya Mreyte”, the title song in Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s first feature film "Caramel", composed by Khaled Mouzannar.
In 2009, she released the single and shot the music video entitled "Ya Wled", a critical ode to all Lebanese politicians prior to the parliamentary elections.
Her first trip to the U.S.A. was hosted by music producer/manager Miles Copeland (The Police/Sting) who chose her as one of the main Arab artists portrayed in the PBS-produced musical documentary entitled: “Dissonance and Harmony/Arab Music Goes West”. The documentary was preceded by a 5-day musical workshop uniting American and Arab artists at SIR studios in Los Angeles. It was directed by Jon Brandeis and aired on PBS, BBC, Al Jazeera and Al Hurra.
The result of this workshop/documentary was the songs: "Slow Down" (released on the compilation "Desert Roses5") and the song "Had There Been a Dream" (released on the compilation "Bagdad Heavy Metal") both produced by Miles Copeland.
She performed live in various venues of the world including DRM Beirut, Byblos International Festival, The Opera House and Al Genaina Theater in Cairo, The National Theater of Doha, The Roxy (Los Angeles), Arlington World Music Festival (Washington, D.C.) and many others.
In 2010, she was featured in “Next Music Station”, a documentary by musician /filmmaker Fermin Muguruza depicting the modern Arab music scene. The film was screened in Studio 39, New York the next year.
In April 2011, she released her second studio album (co-produced by Philippe Tohme) and a music video entitled "Wehde”. The album immediately became number 1 on the TOP 10 list of best selling albums at Virgin Megastore, Beirut and accompanied the Arab Spring throughout the Arab World.
She also wrote the lyrics and coached the singers in Khaled Mouzannar’s soundtrack for Nadine Labaki’s second feature film "Where Do We Go Now?” released worldwide in September 2011. The film soundtrack also made it to number 1 on the TOP 10 list of best selling albums at Virgin Megastore, Beirut and was distributed worldwide. It also won “Best Music Award” in Stockholm International Film Festival in November 2011.
In 2012, Tania's song "Hsebak Baadein" was included in Galileo's Lebanese underground music compilation entitled "Radio Beirut” released in Germany and on all online music platforms. By the end of the year, she released her first live album entitled: “Tania Saleh Live at DRM” which included unreleased songs performed to a live audience.
In 2013, she performed live at the Red Zone Festival (Norway), at the Beirut Spring Festival, at Al Balad Music Festival (Jordan) and at Beirut Jazz Festival in September.
She is currently working on her third studio album to be released in 2014.