This note is from ''La Opinion'' spanish magazine from Tenerife...8.3.2009. I found it very opened, sincere and very interesting which needed to be shared, so I translated it in english...
Mira Awad: Being an artist is a risky business
The Palestinian singer acts in Leal theatre at International Woman's Day
ALMUDENA CRUZ | SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE Born in a small Arab village in Galilee, northern Israel, of Palestinian father and Bulgarian mother. Mira Awad has always lived surrounded and influenced by a strong link with art and music.
"I started singing from the age of nine and began composing my own songs at age 15. Then I started my own band, we played Arabic rock music with songs that I wrote" she recalls. The young Palestinian singer perform in the theater Leal on the occasion of International Day of Working Women. Female voices, different styles and hues will be submitted throughout the month of March to the public verdict in Tenerife.
Even though she is beginning to be known now in Europe, she is well known in her country and has participated in several productions as an actress, singer and songwriter.
"I love my two careers, actress and my musical side. I'll be happy if I continue working on both as usual. Acting is, to some extent, a healing process for me, working with emotions that maybe in real life I try to avoid. Beneath the mask of one of my characters I deal with these feelings, put them in the microscope without fear of being judged" she explains.
The music, her other great professional side, is the reason that brought Mira to the Canarian islands. Bahlawan is the title of her first album in which, as usual, she has also composed all songs.
"Music is something different in the sense that I can show myself openly, without masks, to let people ‘’look at you inside" said Awad and also add "being an artist is a risky business, you show your soul openly and you can only trust that people will connect with you" – she said.
About her album she explains that is the result of hard work and effort. In fact, many of the songs were written over a 12 years ago, others "she insists’’ are very recent.
She explains that album is kind of a diary of all these years devoted to art. Bahlawan, the title of this first album, mean acrobat in arabic and is dedicated to her younger brother. "He's always worrying about me and takeing care of me" says the artist.
Mira is also composer of soundtracks for films, including director Udi Aloni's Forgiveness and Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis, she explains that her creative side is "part of a clear intention to write about very personal things but at the same time, very universal about human emotion . I work a lot with feelings " insists Mira.
With Noa to Eurovision. After her visit to the Canarian Islands, where the actress and singer is for first time "it’s an incredible opportunity to perform here, I’m exciting. I've been waiting a long time for this" , Mira Awad will get to work on the final details which they will bring her, on 16 May, to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest with her friend, the Israeli singer Noa. They will attempt to give picture of unity after the disastrous consequences of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
"Noa, music producer Gil Dor and I wrote together four songs and Israeli audience has chosen one of them to represent in eurovision. All songs are dealt with the painful reality of our region and hope to find a way to change it. All songs were written in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English. It is actually the first time that the song that represents Israel has Arabic text in it " she explains.
The song tha they are singing at the final gala in Moscow is entitled ‘’There must be another way’’ (Tiene que haber otro camino) and speaks about in a composer's own words: "the urgent need to find a new path, one of the key phrases the song says - and when I cry, I do it for both of us, my pain has no name" concludes the Palestinian artist.
"I am very worried"
"It hurts me to see that the space that separates us from each other gets bigger and bigger instead of healing’’ says Palestinian artist when asked about her opinion on the conflict of Israel and Palestine.
"I am very concerned about our future and I fear that there will come a day when we all completely lose hope, that would be our final end" says Mira Awad.
The singer responds openly and offers a rare and hopeful vision based on the firm conviction that "we must keep fighting for reconciliation that is based on an idea of two people living together in respect and mutual appreciation" she insists.
A path that she recognizes, can not be seen as easy ‘it’s very long and complicated but it is possible if we leave aside our interests, and to my way of seeing things, the only priority that should guide us is the sacred value of the right to live" she concludes.
Her last production as a television actress, in fact, is a portrait "from the satire of the reality faced by Palestinians living in Israel today, has reached a big audience success, it is called Arab Labor" she said.
Source: http://www.laopinion.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2009030800_8_204821__Cultura-y-comunicacion-Mira-Awad-artista-negocio-arriesgado
