Ruba Saqr profile picture

Ruba Saqr

About Me


Ruba Saqr on Al Jazeera TV (short documentary about the artist). Al Jazeera is No. 1 Arab News Network broadcasting from Qatar.
Singer-songwriter Ruba Saqr’s work has been internationally recognised by winning the UNESCO Prize for Best Innovative Performance Bridging Traditional and Contemporary Traditions in 2007 (for performing 3 of her originals "Sadaqa", "Ana Qindeel" & "Fil Thalam" at the Samarqand Int'l Music Festival).
In 2005, Ruba Saqr won Global Battle of the Bands (Jordan finals), which also led to a UK appearance at the Astoria. She has considerable experience of working on international collaborative projects, having been recently involved in Music Matbakh (2007) under the music leadership of Justin Adams, Robert Plant’s guitarist and producer of Malian desert blues band Tinariwen; organized by the British-Council with UK's music production company, Serious.
Ruba’s family, from her mother’s side, is of Sufi origin and she has recently begun to introduce elements from the Sufi tradition into her music in commemoration of her Sufi master and teacher, her late grandmother who passed away in May 2006. When not working on her music, Ruba writes for UK-based Al Hayat newspaper (a mass circulation in Arabic langauge) about alternative & underground music in her own country, and has a music opinion column that appears every Monday in Jordan's Al Ghad Newspaper.
Ruba Saqr as part of Music Matbakh
Video Codes
Ruba Saqr with Music Matbakh
Video Codes

Recent event...

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 05/06/2007
Band Website: www.rubasaqr.blogspot.com
Band Members:
Influences: Sufi literature & practice , different musical genres from oriental rock to classical music, folk and world music, & tunes from Mashreq to Maghreb of arabia.
Sounds Like:

"… Ruba Saqr, a singer whom [Justin] Adams describes as "the Jordanian Joan Baez…"
(UK ~ 8-6-2007)

"… and then mesmerized by the pitch-perfect voice of Jordanian Ruba Saqr, a singer-songwriter and respected journalist from Amman, dazzled throughout the two hour performance. With her corkscrew curls and polka-dot top, her strong vocals and acoustic guitar skills were a big hit with the fans, many of whom were forced to stand at the sides as seats quickly filled up."
(Syria ~ 5-10-2007)

"Ruba [Saqr] and Issam both tell of the s
ame musical momentum across the Arab world: a young, vibrant, exploratory new audience waking up via a whole slew of inter-Arabic, East-West and North-South fusion music."
(UK ~ 18-5-2007)

"In a Hugely male-dominated music scene, Ruba Saqr sure is one breath of very fresh, very talented air...
Pulp magazine (Jordan ~ March 2008)
..

"...we had a few special moments of poetry blending with music and singing, where East and West met on the same stage. Ruba Saqr is the artist who created these infinite combinations creating an atmosphere filled with profound silence, to which her guitar strings bowed to her serene, but strong voice."
(Algeria ~ 29-6-2006)

"My favourite was ..Ana Qindeel,' a song written by Ruba, “in a state of depression,” which was composed as part of a project called ..Adraj Amman' (Amman stairs). Ruba talks to the city, speaks with her. One can feel the loneliness and questioning but even in the dark nights the smell of fresh flowers comes through. While the city is heavy with the sound of silence one can still hear the sound of wonderings."
(Jordan ~ 7-9-2005)

More media here...

Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

Mini Press Center

.. Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA Ruba Saqr articles
Posted by on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:18:00 GMT

Alternative Sufi night of song, piano & poetry in "3 Women Only" - concept & voice by Ruba Saqr

"3 Women Only" is a concert that brings together 3 artists from 3 different age groups, 3 different life philosophies and 3 different artistic visions. Singer-songwriter Ruba Saqr is hosting the w...
Posted by on Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:36:00 GMT

The rise of alternative Arabic music in Syria - My recent editorial in Al Ghad

Writer: Ruba SaqrPublished in: Al Ghad newspaper (Jordan) This article is about the rise of alternative Arabic music in Syria and the new sounds emerging from that cradle of civilizations.Lead paragr...
Posted by on Thu, 22 May 2008 21:31:00 GMT

’The New Oriental Sounds’: Music that challenges the commercial entertainment stream in Arabia!

This article was published in Al Ghad newspaper on Wednesday 14-5-2008. Recently I noticed several signs that show commercial music in the Arab world was actually suffering a slow down, at the same ti...
Posted by on Thu, 22 May 2008 21:04:00 GMT

The Musical Thoughts of Ruba Saqr (Blog on Blogger)

My official blog is:http://www.rubasaqr.blogspot.comIt contains music articles I wrote for Al Hayat newspaper (UK), Al Ghad newspaper (Jordan), Al Rai newspaper (Jordan), Al Sijil weekly (Jordan)...
Posted by on Sat, 03 May 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Coming soon ~ Debut Album ~ New Website

 Debut Album titled ~ Law Kan ’Andi Matar (If Rain Was Mine)Website URL ~ www.rubasaqr.comBlog ~ www.rubasaqr.blogspot.com--------------------------------- --To the soul of my beloved grandmother...
Posted by on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:19:00 GMT

If you believe in miracles, you produce your first album!

If you believe in miracles, you produce your first album!           ... and if you don't, obviously miracles won't happen. When I first started r...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 16:04:00 GMT