ELIZABETH AYOUB WOWS AUDIENCE AT THE AANM By Nancy Jaber
A diverse crowd attended the Arab American National Museum's Commerica/Ford Global Thursdays on March 15 to hear Venezuelan Lebanese singer Elizabeth Ayoub perform. She ermerged on stage with tousled hair, wearing a black ensemble with red roses and red stilettos. She was accompanied by Grammy nominated Jose Elias on guitar, Nathan on bass and Aaron (the museum's percussionist) on drums.
"I have family here and it means a lot to me, there is a big Lebanese community here," she said.
She said her performance would be 'a night of storytelling' and started her first song with one of the most famous female storytellers in history, Scheherazade.
Ayoub's voice was both jazzy and sensual and her moves across the stage were passionate and subtle, especially as she sang the lyrics, '...trying to save your soul...'
She got the crowd dancing and singing along with her and asked them to snap their fingers along with the beats as she finished off the first song with a graceful thank you.
"Blues is definitely one of my favorite kinds of music...it has its history in Arabia," Ayoub said. "The bending of the notes is typically Arabic."
She then launched into her 'homage to blues and Arabic music' with a song called 'Mr Jones,' a male version of heart break on which she played guitar. Her sultry, throaty voice lilted and the audience grew silent as they listened, although they never stopped snapping pictures of the beautiful singer.
When singing 'Hawa,' she explained to the audience that hawa in Arabic has dual meanings. "It means love but it is also a breeze," she said. "It is almost ethereal, what is ethereal can not be touched and both love and a breeze are things that can't be touched," she said.
She then sang a song that she wrote for her mother when her mother was in Lebanon and Ayoub was in the United States. The song was filled with questions for her mother she said and oddly enough, her mother gave her the answers.
"...Why mom, why?" she sang in Arabic questioning her mother about life, love and politics. In the song, she asks why do things burn and why lovers are spurned.
The answer she received from her mother was (a lyric), "...everything is our life, everything is in our hands..." This song was tinged with melancholy and longing.
"That song was like my lullaby to myself," Ayoub said, "When you are a songwriter, and talk about your songs, you discover new things."
Singing in French and Spanish, her voice and body language told the stories she wished to convey in her music even if the audience didn't understand the exact words.
"Songs are like children," Ayoub said. "You create them and hope they take their own path."
Ayoub sang some music which has also been featured on both BBC and NPR.
The diverse audience seemed enthralled by her and demanded an encore and clapped their hands wildly as she shimmied across the stage singing an Arabic song about a woman talking to her lover.
Ayoub said she doesn't fear competion when it comes to other female artists such as Shakira.
"There is room enough for a lot of us," she said.
Two members of the audience were very happy they came to see Ayoub perform.
"I think it was nice and enjoyable, especially when she sang about missing her family back home, we all miss our families and mom's," said Bill Ali of Dearborn.
His friend Yousef Awad said he liked the sound because it was "special and different."
Nancy Jaber - Detroit Forum + Link (Mar 23, 2007)