Nabil Salameh, also known as Nabil or Nabil Bey (born 1962 in Tripoli, Lebanon), is a Palestinian singer, songwriter, musician, artist and journalist, founder of the world music bands Radiodervish and Al Darawish.
Between 1998 and 2007 he worked as a foreign correspondent for the international network Al Jazeera, providing the western point of view relevant to international events, such as the September 11 attacks.
Early life
Nabil Salameh was born in Tripoli in Lebanon, eighth of nine children, three males and six females, from Palestinian refugees. In 1948, just fourteen years before his birth, following the establishment of the state of Israel his parents fled from Jaffa, where they had lived until then in their own estate, later dispossessed by Israelis. In Lebanon Nabil's father was a UN officer and UNRWA supervisor of institutes for Palestinian refugees' education.
When in Lebanon, Nabil attended the Greek Orthodox college in the Christian district of Tripoli. To carry on his studies he firstly moved to Romania, where he enrolled in the University of Bucharest at the time of Nicolae Ceauşescu, eventually moving to Bari in Italy in 1983 to study Electrical Engineering at the local University.
Career
Al Darawish
In 1988 Salameh founded the band Al Darawish. The group invented a style of their own by playing several instruments coming from various areas of the Mediterranean region. The result was a rich melt seasoned by different sounds and cultures and the band received great approval from the public. Theirs was one of the first world music projects in Italy and fuelled more multi-ethnic experiences in the country. For Salameh, this was the start of a long thriving musical career.
In 1990, Al Darawish took part in the Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs d'Europe et de la Méditerranée in Marseille. In 1991 they were selected and performed for the musical festival Arezzo Wave among other artists coming from all over the world, then played at Carrefour de la Mediterranée in Thessaloniki in Greece.
In 1993, Al Darawish recorded their first album Al Darawish, which was presented live from the auditorium of the national network RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana on Radio3. In the same year Al Darawish were guests at the Babylon festival in Iraq.
In 1994, Nabil performed in Bari for the very first time with the Israeli singer Achinoam Nini aka Noa, with whom he has sung many times during his career.
In 1995, Al Darawish were guests at Musicultura for the sixth edition of Premio Città Recanati and to the acclaimed Concerto del Primo Maggio, a massive musical event held every year on Labour Day in Rome, with the participation of great Italian and international artists. In July 1995 the movie Trafitti da un raggio di sole was released, with Al Darawish signing the soundtrack and Nabil playing a part himself as an actor.
In 1996, Al Darawish recorded their second album Radio Dervish.
Radiodervish
In 1997 Al Darawish disbanded. In the same year this was followed by the formation of the new band Radiodervish, by Nabil Salameh and Michele Lobaccaro, co-performer and co-founder of Al Darawish.
Also in 1997 Nabil was asked to sing the anthem of the thirteenth edition of the Mediterranean Games, a multi-disciplinary sports event joined by athletes from the Mediterranean region: that year the games were held in Italy and Nabil was chosen as a Palestinian artist to perform for such event, for the very first time ever.
In 1998 Radiodervish recorded their first album Lingua contro lingua, published under the label I dischi del mulo and distributed by the multinational recording company Polygram: this work was awarded best record debut of the year by the Italian musical contest Piero Ciampi.
Jovanotti and Achinoam Nini
In November 1999, Nabil took part in one of the most important events organized by UNESCO during the 20th century, Music for Peace, held in Paris, together with other international artists such as Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Lionel Richie, Peter Ustinov, Zucchero.
At the end of the year, Nabil duetted with Jovanotti (born Lorenzo Cherubini) for the video recording of the latter's track Stella Cometa, and it was in that occasion that Jovanotti asked Nabil Salameh to render that song lyrics in Arabic and sing it. That is how Cherubini's single CD Dolce Fare Niente Remix turned out with three tracks, the first homonymous sung in Italian by Jovanotti, the second, Stella Cometa / Stella d'Oriente, as a duo by Cherubini/Salameh and the third Stella d'Oriente totally sung in Arabic by Nabil Salameh.
