A music composer is the director’s tool to bring his vision into musical notes. So what does a music composer actually do? A music composer’s responsibility is to communicate and brainstorm with the director regarding length, genre, instrumentation of music. In addition, they prepare a demo using software and sounds to let the director hear how music will sound before hiring musicians that will perform it live. As far as being a musician, the music composer needs to have a solid understanding of storytelling to fulfill the director’s vision. In a male dominated field, these Arab female composers strive to bring fresh and new ideas out there. Here is a closer look at Arab female composers rocking the music scene .
Layal Watfeh
Layal Watfeh is an award winning Syrian music composer based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Her musical journey began at the age of 9, when she joined the Conservatoire as a violin player. At the age of 11, she had chosen the piano as the main tool to express her musical ideas. Being one of the most known voice-over talents across the Middle East is surely an edge to her fascinating talent recording commercials across TV, radio as well as jingles for famous brands and products.
MBC Group played a vital role in embracing Layal’s musical journey by offering her a chance to work as a post production sound engineer. At the age of 21, during her work at Dubai music Studios, Layal kick started her career as a music composer, studying and learning music composition and sound techniques.
Most Notable Work: Taht El Wesaya (2022), El Meshwar (2023), Photocopy (2017).
Suad Bushnaq
An award winning music composer Suad Bushnaq who has over 40 film credits in her musical career was born, raised in Jordan and resides in Toronto, Canada. Suad began studying music at the higher institute of music in Damascus, Syria, which led to a music composition scholarship and a Bachelor in Music Composition from Mcgill University, Montreal, Canada.
Described as “an incredible artist” by the legendary Hans Zimmer, her versatile composition style spans a unique blend of symphonic orchestral and ethnic instruments. Also, Suad conducted film scoring lectures for students and workshops in the US, Canada and Oman. Suad has been actively participating in donating her music album sales to Syrian Kids Foundation & the Canadian Breast Cancer.
Most Notable Work : Bassma (2024), Rehla 404 (2024), From the Ashes (2024)
Sara Fakhry
“The sound of music” movie was the reason behind discovering her enthusiasm for music. Sara Fakhry an Egyptian music composer for film, TV, video games. Playing at her parent’s piano since early age made her discover her passion to express her musical ideas.
In 2017, Sara made the decision to pursue a career in music and obtained her bachelor’s degree in Music from New York University in Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). While studying, she discovered her love for music composition and exploring the latest software and hardware technology. Her unique blend of electronic synth , orchestral instruments made her a distinguished uprising artist. In addition, Sara earned a Master’s Degree at Berklee College of Music at New York University in Abu Dhabi.
Most Notable Work : The Last Night of the World (2024), Roxi – Amir Eid (2024)