Ghalia Benali (; born 21 December 1968) is a Tunisian singer, songwriter, writer, and graphic designer. Her music has been noted for its links to multiple genres and defining contemporary Arabic music. Benali's southern Tunisian upbringing and fascination with Middle Eastern and Arab legendary artists is palpable in her music style. Her voice has been dubbed as multicultural and polymorphic.
Born in Brussels, Belgium, and raised in Zarzis, Tunisia, Benali embarked on her music career in the early 90s, during the rise of world music phenomena that exposed her to different cultures and philosophies. After finishing her science and mathematics studies at the age of 19, Benali returned to Brussels to study graphic design at the Institut Saint-Luc of Graphic Arts. Soon she became a widely recognized singer in Europe, and in 2012 she made her debut on an Arab stage.
Some of the most prominent projects Benali has worked on are Kafichanta, Wild Harissa, Romeo and Leila, Al Palna, and The Indian Hadra. Benali has performed songs by Oum Kalthoum, Allegory of Desire, and MwSOUL. In addition, she has acted, and collaborated with international bands such as The Spy from Cairo, Mad Professor, and The Metropole Orchestra.
Early life Benali was born in Brussels, Belgium, on 21 December 1968 to Ali Benali, a physician and cytologist, and Najia Somai, a beautician. She has three younger brothers, Zied, Taher, and Bechir. At the age of four, Benali's father ended his medical studies and decided to return to the family's homeland, where she grew up in Zarzis, a coastal town in southeastern Tunisia. As a young girl, she started exploring her melodic fascination with recitations of the Quran, Indian, and Egyptian cinema, in addition to Middle Eastern and Arab musicians such as Oum Kalthoum, Sabah Fakhri, and Adib AlDayikh.
With the support of her mother, Benali used to play dress-up at family gatherings and perform for her guests, yet due to her shy nature, singing for a crowd was rather challenging. She would occasionally pretend to be interviewed in front of her bedroom mirror. Before becoming an artist and musician, she hoped for a job that would allow her to travel and explore the world and even considered becoming a flight attendant. After finishing her science and mathematics studies at the age of 19, Benali returned to Brussels to study graphic design at the Institut Saint-Luc of Graphic Arts to express herself through imagery and artistry. After graduating, Benali became an independent artist and graphic designer. Soon her passion for music was further nourished after performing at her friend's birthday, which she considers the day it all started.
Career beginnings On 21 December 1993 Benali celebrated her 25th birthday, first on stage and the 10th anniversary of a venue called Amadeus. She performed with a band she met on stage, together with J.P. Gebbler, a Belgian jazz player, classical western musicians, and a flamenco band. In June 1994, CASA CAIUS invited her to tour in Portugal, where she performed in a line-up of 6 concerts in some of the most iconic historical places in North Portugal for the Roland company.
Four years later, the musician collaborated with stylist Vanessa Neirynck in the international styling competition "Brothers Cup" in China and came in second. Later on, she left for Rajasthan, India, to learn dancing. In 1999, Benali was invited by Kunsten-festival-des arts to perform in a concert in Bazaar in Brussels on a project with a new band that later on will be known as Timna/Wild harissa.
Music ventures Kafichanta Hoping to present the music of Arab cabaret to Europeans and remain in touch with her origins, Benali performed with the trio "Kafichantas" with lute player Moufadhel Adhoum, and percussionist Azeddine Jazouli. The project was a means to take westerners on a journey of Arabic culture.
Wild Harissa and Nada While experimenting with acting and cinema, Benali released her first two albums, "Wild Harissa", a collaboration with Timna in 2001, and "Nada" in 2002.
Romeo and Leila In 2003, Benali started working on a multidisciplinary project that included music, story-telling, dancing, and graphics. "Romeo and Leila" is a Benali autobiography, for every mythical character mentioned in the fictional tale refers to someone she met in her real-life journey. As a young artist, Benali left her country and safe haven, searching for a love she only dared dream of. Facing different cultures, beliefs, and social pressures, her departure was anything but mundane. In the tale of Romeo and Leila, Benali is both the hero and heroine. Both rising from different worlds, the only thing that could bring them together in harmony is acceptance. The short story is about a secluded and overly-protected princess, and five short journeys she has to take to reach the divine perfection found in love. During her hunt for five pearls that would be her liberator, she learns the lesson of a lifetime. Originally written in French and translated to English and Arabic, "Romeo and Leila" shows us that love is rebirth, never death, as tradition and literature tend to carve in our subconscious. The tale was performed by Benali as a musical in Belgium. The personal project was not recorded with a music label, but with the help of the Palestinian founder of the Amal Festival in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Ghaleb Jaber, and the Flemish community of Belgium. The album was released in 2006.
Al Palna and The Indian Hadra Benali has always been spellbound by Indian culture and its visionary art. The music, costumes, colorful fabrics, and choreography have mesmerized her to the extent that she would listen to radio stations broadcasting Indian music during school classes. Years later, she felt the need to infuse her Arabic roots with Indian culture in the one way she can truly express her soul, music. In 1991, Benali attended an Indian school in Brussels where she met sitar player Bert Cornelis. After a long jamming session, the song "Bharat" came to life, which evolved over the years to set the tone of the "Al Palna" album. The name of the album signified the amalgamation of the Arabic and Indian cultures. The word Al means the in Arabic, while Palna means cradle in Hindi. The album was released in 2008, followed by a tour in India in 2009. The intimate audience of avid music and poetry-recitation lovers continuously appeared entranced with the uniting classical Arabic and Indian tunes. Spiritual poetry about Love, also known as Ghazal, was a commonly performed genre. Later on, Al Plana was reborn in Egypt as ‘The Indian Hadra’ with violin player Ayman Asfour, and Arabic percussionist Ayman Mabrouk. The Indian sitar and tablas, with the chanting of Sufi Arabic words, took the audience on a divine journey. It was a project meant for liberal souls and minds. The music is closer to an Athan, which is a call to pray for God.
Ghalia Benali sings Oum Kalthoum Benali has always been fascinated by Oum Kalthoum, the most prominent of all Egyptian and Arab female singers. Listening to "Al Atlal" song as a child has shaped her passion for music. The love for the music legend ran in the family, where her parents hung a picture of Oum Kalthoum on their bedroom wall. Benali, being the imaginative child she was, believed the photo was of her grandmother. Years later, Benali remained as passionate as ever about her fictional and honorary grandmother, deciding to embrace the love the Arab world has for her music icon and pay tribute as a loyal granddaughter. Yet instead of giving the audience a reiterated performance, she created her own rendition of the renowned music that captured her music style, Tunisian essence, and spirituality. The Oum Kalthoum album, which consisted of five songs, was recorded at the Jet studio in Brussels in 2008. Participating in this project were double bassist Vincent Noiret, rek player Azeddine Jazouli, and oud player Moufadhel Adhoum. The album appeared under the Dutch label "Music and Word" in 2010. The project was a huge success in Europe, with thousands attending the shows regardless of the language barrier. Benali has turned it into an experience rather than a performance, with her signature body language that translated the lyrics beyond Europeans’ comprehension.
The Voice By the year 2012, Benali had already made a name for herself in Europe, yet she still yearned for a connection with Arab audiences which led to her next career move. The Voice talent show on the MBC channel was premiering the same year and the management team contacted Benali to participate in their first season. She left quite an impression during her breakthrough appearance on the show while performing "Ya Mesafer Wahdak" by Mohamed Abdel Wahab. However, she felt her free-spirited performance and unique cultural-blending style were not the traditional styles the show was looking for. Yet, for the first time, Benali came face-to-face with the Arab audience and sensed what they were looking for in an artist.
Allegory of Desire Later in 2013, Benali collaborated with Zefiro Torna and Vocalconsort Berlin on a new project. Inspired by The Song of Songs, a series of lyrical poems organized as a dialogue between a young woman and her lover in the last section of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, the Allegory of Desire came to life. The music involved solo-voiced madrigals accompanied by instruments, vocal duets, and trios, a women's choir and polyphonic settings by composers such as Hildegard of Bingen, De Machaut, Dunstable, Agricola, Lassus, Grandi, Sances, Monteverdi, Schütz, Buxtehude, and J. Ch. The project created an inspiring dialogue between cultures, with narrated texts by Sufi poets such as Rabaa Al-Adawia and a young aspiring generation of poets such as Egyptian Abdallah Ghoneim and Mohamed Zakaria. Lyrics were written and composed by Benali herself. The international cast took their project to Mechelen, Berlin, Hamburg, Nürnberg, Winterthur, Sevilla, and Vilnius, and an album was released in 2016 by Warner Classics.
MwSOUL