Full Transcript for Dana Al Meer

you need you need cash all the time. So I saw a guitar. It was a Fender. I guess it was a Stellar Caster and it was purple Lavender. 00:05:44 Speaker 2: I like that, very prince very. 00:05:46 Speaker 3: And it was from the nineties, oh class, so it was classic and I was like, how much is that? It was like nineteen thousand reals. I was like, what. 00:05:55 Speaker 2: Cash on me? 00:05:56 Speaker 3: I want it. I couldn't get it. I couldn't get it. Was amazing. And I said that in the interview, and then suddenly they pull out something to give and I was I was literally in tears. I was like, I don't know what to say. I screamed. I had a picture of my mouth open. It's so funny. 00:06:16 Speaker 1: So what are some of your favorite guitars that you have? I love guitars, just the shapes, the colors, the looks. I play a little bit, but mostly I just think they're beautiful objects. What are some of your favorite ones that you have stories behind them? 00:06:28 Speaker 3: Well? I usually like the classical ones. I just grab it and just play with it. It it's better. But nowadays I'm learning more of how to play guitar, even to start like comprovising stuff and other than just parkodes. And it's been really hectic so I need to like remove the nails. Yeah, so it's always whenever I have a show. When I was just like, I'm gonna put my nails on, and then I removed them for it, so I can never grow my nails ever. We're girls. 00:07:00 Speaker 2: Friend of man he had I don't know the term, like acrylic nails that he put on his fingers. They weren't his real nails, so they could do the finger. 00:07:07 Speaker 3: Picures you you need because if you're not using a pick, some people rely on their nails. But for me, no, I will play it with my fingers. I'm not that good though, but I better. Yeah, I sing better than the playing. But I'm learning. 00:07:24 Speaker 2: I'm learning. 00:07:25 Speaker 4: Well. 00:07:25 Speaker 2: Performed an original song, yeah, I mean, can you tell me about how you chose to perform it? 00:07:30 Speaker 1: There? 00:07:30 Speaker 2: What the message was? 00:07:31 Speaker 3: So it was written by a Palestinian writer his name is Atam Dan and the one who produced the melody and the music was Peter his Albanese based in California. I think I worked with both of them and it's been amazing. When we did the song, originally it was for an athlete, Mattez Basham for the Olympics. What do you call it? The jumper, long jump, I think the long jump yet it was I think it's his last participation. So we created the song for him. And then when we were traveling to intervision, I was like, I want to perform it, but I want to add another because they we had like a time they wanted three minutes, so it's like, okay, let me add another section. Like at first and it was fantastic, it became much more about because it's called hua antet anti. It means this is you, and it speaks about how you achieved dreams and how hard to do that. And your road is not all like flowers and and and and and lala land, but at the same time, you work hard to reach what you want and you have a home. You are in every home it says bait and bait and bait, and so you are repeating the word home, home, home, and then alban Alban means heart, and that's what it says. And then and the other chorus you say hell, hell, hell, it means fly high. So it was it was something else and and what I loved about performing Athansrivision that I was with my I'm not going to call them students. I'm going to call them my talent that I usually have with me in music lab and they came all along with me. I had a thirteen year old and at intervision. They loved the diversity of nationalities that I had with me. So I had a Filipino, a Lebanese and then a Malaysian, a violinist that was the youngest, and then an Indian and a Sudani guy. And then the management. We had my Palestinian friends also with me. The management and the talent coordinator and the social media department. She was ato with us. It was something else. It was a beautiful experience. 00:09:42 Speaker 2: They're going to be friends the rest of their lives. These people from all over the world I met when they were kids at this event. That's unforgettable event, and that's beautiful, I know, bonding through art. You're talking about how that song's about working hard and flying high and achieving. When you first were getting involved with music, what did success look like to you. 00:10:02 Speaker 3: Well, my story is something else. I don't know if you know that I'm the first Ratari singer in Don't Have That was a challenge actually to come from a very conservative family that doesn't believe actually that this is something that you should do. It's a sin, it's something forbidden for a woman to do. And I've always felt like I have something to fight for and to say that and not necessary. If I'm a singer, it means I'm somebody who's doing something wrong or sing about something wrong, or what am I singing for? So when I started at the World Cup, I used to do things like a long time ago behind the scenes, but yeah, in general, it was something else. Doing the World Cup and coming out at the World Cup. It showed my talent and at the same time, I wasn't eighteen. I was like thirty five, thirty four. I was an adult. I know what am I doing. So it was a challenge. But at the same time I did not expect that much of support it from the community because I thought that they might have a problem with that. But at the end of the day, it was something else. Let's say the fight from the family. It's still there. They don't like it, but I feel like I'm fighting against the idea of I'm not gonna be corrupted, I'm not gonna do anything wrong, And part of that made me feel like this is the successful part of it, to show that this is what I'm doing, and I'm not. My intention is not to be rich or famous for any of that. I'm doing it because I love it. I love standing a stage. I love singing, that's all.

And it's like making people believe that you can do it with all those restrictions. With me wearing my abbai and my shila, I haven't changed even the way I wear my shaila on stage. And sometimes while I'm singing. I remember I had this performance in front of her Excellency Delani and I was singing. While I was singing, I was singing the same song and while I was singing my shad, I was going down, down down. I was like, I was like, I was slinging the guitar and I was like, I paused the song and I was like, just a second, let me fix my sheila. And I fixed it, and I said, that's when when when a singer and a guitarist is a hi jaby and I started laughing and I continued this song after with so I feel like, this is my identity, this is who I am, and that's what I'm that's what I want to do, even that's what I do with the talents and the students. That comes my way through music club. 00:12:26 Speaker 2: But it's your voice is such a primal thing, you know, I mean, it's the direct way to communicate. What would you say when you were having conversations with people who they simply put didn't want you to sing? I mean, what would would your response speed to them? 00:12:41 Speaker 3: Well, to be honest, I never asked for permission. 00:12:45 Speaker 2: I love that that's. 00:12:46 Speaker 3: One and I was scared by myself of what is the reaction is going to be? And then I was like, if I believe that I'm not wrong and I'm not doing anything wrong, then eventually people will see that. My parents will see that, my brothers will see that. I don't think they do. But they're quiet, but they don't like it. But they're quiet. They're not supporting. Like, for example, I finished the World Cup, came home, everybody asleep, nobody cheered me up. It was a huge achievement and nothing even inter vision, nothing. My mom went with me to Russia and she was extremely proud. So I have the support of my mom. But the rest of the small family the home, like dad, brothers, they're not very happy about it. But it's okay, it's fine. They have their own reasons. Of course, I understand as much as I want them to understand that I'm not there to make them feel shy of what I'm doing or disrespect them or any of that. I'm doing it because I really like to do it, and with a lot of restrictions, like I don't work with anybody, I don't sing for anybody. A lot of singers go to sing weddings and say, I don't do any of that. Pure the art that I choose myself with the people I choose myself, which I think that's unique and cool. 00:14:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, you can cool anywhere. That's like, yeah, that's very rare. 00:14:07 Speaker 3: I think that's the thing. And I remember during the World Cup, the FIFA car used to come inside the house, pick me up and go. It was it was really scary, but it was fun. It was something else and I surprise everybody. I surprised everybody during the World Cup. 00:14:35 Speaker 2: This is a question that I did not write down. I hadn't thought of until just this moment talking to you, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to articulate it. And it's probably in the simplest way, but it's a big question. What does singing mean to you? Is that something that you're able to share? Because I am not a singer, but I am a creative person and I know that feeling that urged you have something in you that you want to get out of you. 00:14:56 Speaker 3: That's a very interesting question because I never thought of it, but I do remember that I used to. I always ask my students, why do you sing? 00:15:04 Speaker 2: Well, that's me ask you then, and how do. 00:15:06 Speaker 3: I feel when I sing? It's exactly similar to when we speak, when you see things, when you touch things. It's something that I naturally do. I don't know, it's not something that I'm training myself to do. It's just it came just like that. I just love singing. I think when I sing, I connect with people, I can deliver my emotions. I can be myself when I sing. It's part of who I am. You cannot meet anybody, even before me becoming famous, that I sing. Whenever they're like, oh you have a beautiful voice, I was like, oh, thank you. So it's something that it's there. And I do believe if somebody was meant to sing, they'll never stop. It's different than people who comes and train themselves because they want to be able to sing when you are born with it. You're born with it. It's within, it's with your heartbeat. Your rhythm is with your heartbeat. 00:16:00 Speaker 2: You know that's beautiful. 00:16:01 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I want to talk more about the work you do with the Music Lab. Can you talk more about what that organization is and what they do and your role in it. 00:16:08 Speaker 3: So Music Lab. I never thought that it will happen this way ever in my life. It's something that I had in the back of my head, similar to actually singing the World Cup. They asked me, have you ever dreamed about any of this? So I was like no, But suddenly, while I was in an interview, I remembered a scene when I was ten year old watching Ricky Martin singing the World Cup and I was sitting with my cousin and I was listening to him. I was like, he's out of tune sometimes, and I was thinking this way, and I was like, I looked at her. I was like, I'm going to be there one day and she was like, yeah, right. I swear she's four years older than me. And I remember I remember literally saying this, and I never had it in mind, and when it happened, it was like this, and then suddenly I remembered it while I was in an actually radio interview, and I was like, I can't believe it. Literally, I said this long time ago, so I kind of manifested music club. On the other hand, have always wanted to do an experience similar to a program that we used to watch on a libit on TV channel, Cold Star Academy, where they bring a bunch of talents, they trained them and then they put them on show and then they do I think stuff like the training, but for me, the training

part was the most important thing. So I wanted to because I'm originally a filmmaker. I love film as much as I love music, but I stopped film for a while now. Since twenty eighteen, I had an idea of gathering underground singers from the age of twelve till thirty or thirty five musicians and singers, and I trained them for a three nights show for the film Festival. Don't have Film Institute a festival called the GIA now a change in to do have Film Festival, which is last year, and I wanted to train those kids to sing on stage, to find their own voices, sing different songs that they've never experienced before in all languages. So the first night was about films, like songs and scores from films, and then the second night will be about worldwide, so we sing in Hindi, in Japanese and Korean Arabic English, name the language, and then the third night would be Geek the Them, which is Geek Them is a community event and celebration the Qatari version of come a con Okay basically Geek Them. They had a karaokium and I used to go there and close the doors and tell them you're not allowed to record me otherwise people's live will be in danger. And they never filmed me. And I used to sing, and then I was like, you guys are oh aut of tune. I hate it. I want to have a show on stage that sings all those cartoon songs and video games beautifully. 00:18:54 Speaker 2: What songs did you sing? I have to ask. 00:18:57 Speaker 3: I used to I used to sing part of That World to Mermaid it's my favorite. And Once upon a December and a Stasia that's one of my favorite too, So I used to sing that all the time. And there's another ones because they're all songs that were dubbed into Arabic from Japanese cartoon. It's a huge community that people do every year for how many years now, imagine. So I took that concept and I created a Geekdom night that has all the cartoons played with the band, a rock band, imagine. I love it. And every time I do this training for three months, two and a half month to three teaching all those kids how to be on stage and how to sing and how to trust themselves. Their parents are extremely happy with the results. Some of them now graduated from universities and they're back to perform with me or work with me, which is hot warming to be honest. 00:19:57 Speaker 2: How does that feel for you? That must best watching tree grow that you. 00:20:00 Speaker 3: Can exactly and it's only eight years. It's not much, you know, it's not much. But if they were there when they were fifteen, now they're twenty one, and it's something else. It's beautiful. It's me giving them part of me. Because I haven't studied music. I'm teaching them what I've learned through all these years. How I trained my voice, which they trust me because they see me on tune. They see that when I perform, I deliver, and that's what I give them. And I love it. I enjoy it. 00:20:29 Speaker 2: How did you train yourself self taught? 00:20:31 Speaker 1: In? 00:20:31 Speaker 3: What ways

did you do as a singer. My instrument is also my ear, so I train myself to listen and part of what I do. I used to study Japanese when I was eighteen till let's say twenty seven. 00:20:48 Speaker 2: So many talents and Japanese translation. 00:20:53 Speaker 3: I haven't spoke Japanese for a while, but I never forgot what my teacher used to tell me my sons. He used to say, Japanese people will never understand the way you speak, so you need to pronounce the words exactly the same way they pronounce it. So for example, I cannot say computer. They won't to understand. You need to see computer. And I'm like okay. So part of our lesson we would have a three hours or four hours class as it's a school day. One hour we would have a day of listening to conversations in Japanese and we have to copy it. And it was called shadow wingo, so we shadow what we hear. So I use this technique to teach them how to sing. 00:21:39 Speaker 2: Fascinating. 00:21:40 Speaker 3: So if we are learning something in Japanese or learning something in Hindi or in Arabic for Indian people or non Arabic speakers. That's what we do shadow ingo. 00:21:51 Speaker 2: That's so funny. You mentioned that I had a teacher once. I was a music teacher, and he used to love to record conversations and he leaves fast by the musicality in people's voices, the rising and fall back, and then he would try to transpose it to different ins usually string instruments because you could get in between you. Yes, it was a fascinating man and I was always so interested to hear him talk about that. But that's so interesting to hear that. That's the approach you used too. 00:22:19 Speaker 3: Wow, that would be It would be funny if you see how we train them. I put the speaker in the middle and they form a circle and they walk, and then they have to match the rhythm. They have to match even the breath when they sing. To match, I always tell them to copy but not paste. So copy, but don't paste it because I want your voice now, So don't copy the singer. I don't want to hear another Tailor Swift. That's Taylor Swift. I love her as she is. I don't want another version of her. I want you as yourself, you know what I mean. 00:22:53 Speaker 2: That's very funny you mentioned this. When I was younger, I was afraid to sing, but I wanted to be in that. We did plays and shows and theatrical productions in my school, and I wanted to be a part of it. I was afraid to sing, and so to try to get through that, I said, I'm going to learn how to imitate a singer. I'm not really gonna sing, I'm gonna do what a singer does. Whatever I thought that was, and so I to this day. I love music with all my heart. It's my biggest passion in life. I don't make it myself, but I can imitate a singer. What would you say? I mean, I mean, I imagine it's what you would tell your students. What would you say to someone like me who has a hard time actually accessing their own being themselves singing? 00:23:35 Speaker 3: I used to tell people like I don't know if this is right when it comes to proper voice training, but I hear me when I speak, and if I'm speaking like this, still I'm still singing and I can talk. It's the same voice, and if I want to change it, I can, you know, what I mean. I can still sing and I speak with the same tone, with the same exture of voice. You know what I mean? Do you get me? 00:24:03 Speaker 2: But I feel like that's rare, though maybe I'm wrong. I feel like that's a unique given. 00:24:07 Speaker 3: There are some people who sounds. There was this this singer. She was I think of the American idol if I'm not sure, And she had a very squeezy voice, and then suddenly when she sings, her voice becomes normal. That's interesting, which I was questioning, what is that. That's yeah, that's weird. I speak like that, but when I swing like this, it's weird. It was like, can I have her for a minute. I just want to Probably it's just like just an experiment I want to see. But if you're going to buy a guitar, both are acoustic, this one is Yamaha and this one is Yamaha, Okay, both of them. Both guitars are the same. They don't sound the same because the body is different. So your body is different than my, Your body is different than a charin, So his voice is going to be his and your voice is going to be yours. Some people sometimes look like each other. God creates people that looks like We say that God creates forty people that looks alike in the world. 00:25:15 Speaker 4: It's something that we say here, it's something that they say that creates forty people that has the same like they're a bit similar. 00:25:26 Speaker 3: To You can see people you're like, huh, he looks like tailors to it, she looks like talors, and they do the comparison usually social media that people look alike, you know what I mean. But voices can be also like similar. But you would definitely say there's something there's a characteristic What is the cool thing about having the same person's voice or look and which people now at the moment are copying. I want to look like that, and I want to look like her, and I want to look like him, which is weird. Then you're not unique. Yeah, you need to be yourself. And I keep telling the student to be yourself and show who you are because you will have something that nobody else has. But you need to find it within you and you need to work hard for it, otherwise it's wasted time. You know. 00:26:18 Speaker 2: It's an expression in the United States, be yourself. 00:26:21 Speaker 3: Everybody else is taken exactly well, yeah, taken, somebody. 00:26:29 Speaker 2: Else is filled. Those positions are all filled. Be yourself. I agree, well, I don't want to take up too much more of your time. But my last question for people who I love music with all my heart and I'm always fascinated to learn more about music and discover new music. For people who are just discovering music of this region, do you have any recommendations of either artists or types of music

to check out, or specific songs. Any direction would be greatly appreciated. 00:26:56 Speaker 3: Nowadays, I do believe that there are no much identity and music. Everybody is similar to somebody else. So the Arabs would sound like Indians, Indians would sound like Americans, Americans would sound like Asian Koreans. You know what I mean. It's like it's a mix of everything because everybody is now closer to each other because of Internet and traveling and all that. 00:27:20 Speaker 2: It's a global society exactly. 00:27:22 Speaker 3: But what I would suggest listen to songs that they were created back in the days from the nineties, eighties, seventies, sixties. 00:27:30 Speaker 2: That's my anyway, that's your. 00:27:32 Speaker 3: Era, that's the air that we like to listen to music. For me, that's the time where music was actually genuine and true and nice. And maybe it's because it's familiar to us. Maybe it's because we've listened to it a lot. 00:27:45 Speaker 2: There's something more though, there's something personal about it. 00:27:48 Speaker 3: There's even even movies, by the way, Yeah, if you think about it. Yeah, nineties movies were like. 00:27:53 Speaker 2: What are your nineties movies? 00:27:54 Speaker 3: I would love to know my favorite nineties hongcoms? 00:27:56 Speaker 2: Of course, tell me. I want to hear them all. 00:28:00 Speaker 3: Sleepless in Seattle, What was the name of the movie? Wait, when Harry met Sally? 00:28:06 Speaker 2: One of my one of my favorite writers, You've got mail. 00:28:11 Speaker 3: I love the Mighty Ducks. I love the Mighty Ducks. I love her at a kid. I do like also, for example, the Notebook. I like few things, you know, yeah, I like some. There's a lot of movies that that doesn't come now to my girl, so sad, I know, but it's it's so good. It was it was, it was done really well. It was, you know what I mean. Nowadays movies are in Arabic, we would say they're empty. How yeah, and Arabic it's empty, it doesn't have feelings. It's I used to tell them there are some because I'm a director, and they used to tell me, well, who's your favorite director? And I'm like, I'm not gonna say Steve Stilberg. I don't know. Maybe maybe yes, maybe no. But for me, if a movie delivers an emotion, that's it. I got it. I got the I got the idea. I'm not somebody who I'm not a filmmaker who would look at movies that want and Oscar or yeah, that's I don't care. I don't care about that. I care about a movie that there is a story that means something, or it gave me an information that I've never had and it matches reality more, you know what I mean? When it's the conversations are true, it's not like they're acting on it. They're acting that they're acting. No, I don't want that. I want something that's natural, touching more. The music also in it would be different songs in that era was better. So if you go and listen to abdil Majid, if you go and Listenah, he's a Saundi singer, Rassia del madd he's also a Soundi singer. If you listen to a Helam, she's an Emarati singer. If you listen to Onkelfum she's an Egyptian singer, one of the biggest singers in the history. He's a Kuwaiti singer. Those people had a touch in people's hearts. And there are some people that I don't listen to, but I know that they're amazing. In the region, a guy called the Ali Bahar and he had a band and they were different because there they used to use Western instruments and their music, wow, it was amazing. Their name is so the band called which is the Brothers. There's Miami, also a band called Miami. They're Kuwaitishini singers. There's also a Yemeni singer called Ahmed Veti. His daughter also a singer. Now she's my age or no, actually four years older. Her name is Belgris. Also these people, you would hear the history from Ahmed vet and then you hear his daughter singing very modern and beautiful songs. And that's there that you would enjoy. I think, and listen to something different than what you hear back home and New York. 00:31:01 Speaker 2: Oh, I can't wait to go, got some homework to do. I can't wait. 00:31:05 Speaker 3: Yes, and listen to my songs to o court. 00:31:07 Speaker 2: Yes, naturally, because they're different. 00:31:10 Speaker 1: Dona Thank you so much for your time today, your sharing your story and your music. 00:31:15 Speaker 3: Thank you so much much. I've never had a conversation that that open and very very relaxed. I'm definitely one to telling you the truth. But thank you, thank you, thank you so much. 00:31:27 Speaker 2: Thank you. It's been such an honor. 00:31:33 Speaker 1: Inside the Studio is a production of iHeart Radio. It was produced by Matt Stillo and Jordan Runtagg, who also edited and mixed the episode. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave us a review. 00:31:44 Speaker 2: For more shows on iHeartRadio. 00:31:45 Speaker 1: Check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 00:32:00 Speaker 3: It was b