Taleen Kalbian - Arabia's next idol

[Armenia_Forever]

Arabia's next idol

Performing ahead of Christina Aguilera tonight is 21-year-old American-Armenian singer Taleen. The artist is no stranger to the UAE and has performed in Abu Dhabi before. Emirates Business talked to her ahead of the show.

What can we expect from your show in Abu Dhabi?

A really high-energy performance with live instruments and a lot of Middle Eastern influences in the songs. I'm singing a lot of my own songs but there are two that the audience will recognise. One is a surprise for the crowd.

You shot to fame in 2004 when you released your first single in the UAE. How did that come about?

I was invited to sing at a classical event in Abu Dhabi by the Abu Dhabi Music Foundation. It was such a great opportunity because it opened my eyes to how amazing the UAE is. It's such an exciting place, which is why I always come back. The people are very welcoming and warm. They appreciate true talent.

What have you been up to?

Since then I've been working on my music and writing songs. I got a publishing deal with Foxx King/Bug music, which is Jamie Foxx's new company. I'm also going to be working with top A&R people and producers who have been responsible for the careers of Rihanna and Ne-yo. The creative team you are with is very important for the longevity of an artist. That has been a big priority.

How would you describe your sound?

Very upbeat with a lot of soul and pop influences. A lot of my songs have a Middle Eastern influence, because of my heritage. I also have a touch of funk in some of my songs because I'm a huge fan of James Brown.

Who else do you listen to?

My influences range from Aretha Franklin to Nirvana.

What about Arab artists?

I like Abdel Halim Hafez, Om Kalthom, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, as well as Fayrouz, Amr Diab and Nancy Ajram. Arabic music is emotional and melodic.

How did you get approached to open for Christina Aguilera?

The promoters for the show – specifically John Lickrish, managing partner for Flash – heard my music and were really impressed. They thought it would be a really good fit since I am compared to Christina Aguilera a lot.

Are you excited?

Words can't even tell you how I feel. I really think this is a dream and I'm going to wake up and be telling people that I was going to be opening for my favourite singer in the world! It's just a blessing I feel so fortunate and elated.

Have you met Christina?

I have not met her, no. I can't wait, though!

What's the first thing you plan to say to her?

I have changed the script of what I am going to say to Christina in my head a million times. I keep saying I'm going to be cool and just be like, "Hi, how are you", but I think I'll be so excited that I will want to give her a big hug! I've been such a big fan for so long. I'll tell her I look up to her. It's funny, because I have always wanted to go to a Christina Aguilera concert.

You've sung for the president of the USA and the Pope. Do you get star struck?

It's not being star struck; it's more excitement. These people are human like you and me but they have accomplished a lot. It's respect and admiration.

So what's next for you?

I'm working on my album, releasing a single and then going on a world tour. My music is very international so I would love to tour to different countries in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2008/1...32e7d3a7f3.aspx

[Armenia_Forever]

'I met the right people at the right time'

"I don't really consider myself a child prodigy. It's a great label to have but my parents gave me a normal life," says Taleen Kalbian. ©Gulf News

American-Armenian singer Taleen Kalbian is all set for her Abu Dhabi concert and CD launch in Dubai

At four years, she wanted to be a singer like Whitney Houston. At seven, she asked her mother to help her become a singer. By the time she was ten, she had participated in six operas with the Washington Opera, including Pagliaci with Placido Domingo, at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

At 16 years today, she has a number of performances and concerts to her credit and at impressive venues like the MCI Centre, the White House and at top charity events and in front of dignitaries like Pope John Paul II.

Question this confident, poised teenager about meeting with fame at such an early age and Taleen Kalbian says, "I guess I met the right people at the right time. I would say, it was a little bit of fate and luck as well."

She continues, "I don't really consider myself a child prodigy. It's a great label to have but my parents gave me a normal life. I never felt deprived of my childhood and a proof of that is, I'm still attending school. If I had just concentrated on singing and performing, I could have burned out by the time I hit 16 years."

Tabloid met this teen American Armenian singing sensation, who's pitching herself as a performer somewhere between a Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

In the UAE to perform at a concert organised by the Abu Dhabi Music Foundation, Taleen clad in an elegant, black slip and stilettos fends questions with ease.

Natural

"I have an edge over other performers because I feel natural on stage. I'm glad I started performing at such a young age," she admits.

Though Taleen's background is in classical music, she's promoting herself more as an R&B artist. "Actually, my music is a fusion of R&B, pop and classical peppered with influences of Arab and Armenian music," says this Virginia-based performer, who has an Arab lineage on her father's side.

Her knowledge of Arabic music may not stray far from Egyptian star Amr Diab and the stirring belly dancing music. And, her first single CD, Gotta Let it Go, has incorporated elements of Arabic music. This purely R&B dance number, as she terms it, features the tabla and the Armenian duduk (a wind instrument) and a rapper chanting Yalla Yalla, she says.

This CD released by M/Power Entertainment Incoporated in America will be launched in Dubai sometime in January.

Her promoters felt that Dubai is the hub of the Middle East and they wanted the CD to be released here first, she said.

Moment

There's a story Taleen tells about that "moment" in her life. She recounts, "It was during a performance at a football match at the FedEx field in America. Two days before the performance I was down with flu. But I was adamant that I would perform though my mother had her reservations. However, once I got on stage, like a miracle my fever seemed to subside and I was on a different plane. That was indeed a stand up moment for me." She was 11 years old then.

The determination is her own and not her parents, Taleen asserts, quashing any thoughts of ambitious mothers hovering in the horizon. However, it took a lot from her to complete her homework on stage floors and placate schoolteachers about taking days off for performances and rehearsals.

This 11th grader, who juggles school and a singing career, spends time writing her own songs, producing and recording or performing her music. "We got tired of looking for songwriters who would write lyrics for my age. At 12 years, I could hardly sing about how a man broke my heart, could I?" She asks with a laugh.

Taleen started to write her own songs after attending songwriting workshops in the US. In fact, she's co-written the lyrics for her first CD number, Gotta Let It Go. "I was sick of writing those romantic ballads and coming up with lyrics for this dance number was loads of fun," she says.

Taleen says that she's trying to fit herself vocally on the lines of a Christina Aguilera and model herself imagewise on Madonna. Her elder sister, in fact, is her image builder.

"I love Madonna, because she reinvents herself so well in every new album. They are legends I've grown up on," she says.

Taleen may be poised at the threshold of an exciting music career, with an edge of having started out early. But, she admits, the music world in America is very competitive.

"It's hard to keep up with the hype. (She looks all of 16 years, when she admits that). The hardest thing is to come out with something new. You have to be able to stand out to catch people's attention," she reveals.

And, points out that her new CD number with its mix of R&B, pop and classical may just have the mantra. "I hope to be around for a while writing and making my own music," concludes this teenager.

Taleen's choice

My first performance: At the Kennedy Centre in Washington, when I was nine years old. My music instructor, who belonged to the Washington Opera, had got me an audition with them. I was selected and it was such an overwhelming feeling being on stage. When the curtains opened for the first time, I knew this is my second home.

My most memorable performance: Singing for Pope John Paul 11 when I was 12 years old. It was organised because I have a lot of family in Jerusalem. I just remember it was so cold at Manger Square in Bethlehem. I was not nervous, I sang first for the crowd and their response made me confident. When I sang for the Pope specially, the venue was a smaller church. The Pope gave me a rosary and blessed me. That was an experience.

My favourite concert: A Britney Spears concert because of the sheer entertainment she puts up and for her energy.

The best compliment I've received: 'When I played at the USO concert at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the American troops a lady came up to tell me, "these cornfields have not seen such class." I loved that.

My dream: To share the stage with Aretha Franklin.

The Taleen concert

The repertoire at this concert is meant to be a fusion of classical, R&B and pop. Accompanied by musical director Carlos Rodriguez on the piano, Taleen will perform a combination of Carmen, Gershwin and Broadway tunes. While with Lozano, she will sing opera duets and songs from musicals such as Westside Story, Phantom of the Opera and Avia. She has trained with Carlos and American vocal coach Don Lawrence to give her voice range and control to blend a classical repertoire with pop and R& B.

Her new CD number will not form part of her repertoire at this concert.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/03/12/20/105980.html

[Armenia_Forever]

Aguilera concert to storm palace

Loveday Morris

Singer Christina Aguilera at the Africa Rising Festival in London, Oct 14, 2008. J Ryan / AP

Last Updated: October 18. 2008

ABU DHABI // Christina Aguilera’s concert at the Emirates Palace hotel on Friday will be the biggest-budget music production the country has ever seen, with a 14-piece backing band, a light show and a fireworks display.

The Grammy award-winning singer, whose hits include Genie in a Bottle, will perform on the lawns of the hotel to an expected audience of 20,000 people.

“The show will have all the bells and whistles associated with a big American songstress,” said Lee Charteris, the event’s producer.

The stage for the concert will be built across a large central stairway, with 200 lights and three video screens, the largest of which is 10 metres wide. Radio 1 DJs will appear on a second stage before and after the concert.

Tickets, which are priced from Dh295 to Dh890 (US$80 to $222), are still available.

Aguilera is the latest in a series of stars, including Justin Timberlake, Bon Jovi and Elton John, to perform at the Emirates Palace. The success of previous shows has prompted the hotel to consider building a permanent concert stage in the grounds.

The Abu Dhabi show is part of the singer’s “Back to Basics” tour, to promote her latest multi-platinum-selling album. More subdued and sophisticated than some of her earlier shows, the tour has seen Aguilera return to her soul roots, the genre she has said most inspires her music.

The opening act for the concert was confirmed last week as Taleen Kalbian, an Armenian-American singer.

Four years ago, Taleen, then 16 years old, debuted in the UAE by headlining her own concert in Abu Dhabi.

Taleen, now 20, is classically trained and has been described as “the next Christina Aguilera, meets Aaliyah and Cher seasoned with a pinch of Celine Dion” with a sound that is a blend of “pop, hip-hop, opera with R&B sensibilities”.

“With a powerful voice and dynamic stage presence, Taleen was the obvious choice to be the opening act for a superstar such as Christina,” said John Lickrish, managing director for Flash, the company that organised the event.

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081018.../836349466/1007

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An Image, a Style, Songs -- and a Plan

Washington Post Staff Writer

February 5, 2004; Page VA18

Taleen Kalbian may be perched on the brink of stardom as a versatile singer with a five-octave range. But she can still squeal like a teenager.

The 16-year-old from Centreville was riding in the back of a car in Abu Dhabi, where her family decided to dip her toe in the pop music waters by releasing her first single in December. It was there, in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, that Taleen experienced that seminal moment no musician ever forgets: when she heard her music on the radio for the first time.

"Ohmigod, this is so cool!" she yelped as her mother recorded the historic event on video. "I can't believe this, I'm on the radio, ohmigod. Ohmigod, I'm so happy! . . . That's meeeeee!"

The high-pitched joy hardly sounded like the sultry woman singing "Gotta Let It Go," which Taleen (who doesn't use her last name professionally) co-wrote and co-produced. The song thumps with the funk and sass of a Beyonce Knowles cut, complete with a male rapper and a breathy vocal that bears no resemblance to any teeny-bop singer.

"That sounds wicked to me," one admiring disc jockey in Abu Dhabi told her.

Taleen's Armenian American family has been careful not to overload the career of a girl who started out as an opera prodigy, singing for Pope John Paul II at age 12. But this week, they are in New York hoping to finalize deals that would sign Taleen to a major label and have her on tour in the Middle East and Europe this spring as the opening act for an established star, said her mother, Sylva Kalbian.

Meanwhile, Taleen is bouncing between recording studios, business meetings and voice lessons in Toronto, Northern Virginia and New York, recording 11 more tracks for an album. Instead of giving herself over to the star-making machinery of a major record label, Taleen's family is financing the project themselves, they said, to prevent her from being pigeonholed into one genre and packaged for only one audience.

"She has developed her own image, her own style, her own songs," Sylva Kalbian said. "Now we're at a crossroads. We are looking for the right label, the right distribution. We've done all the background work that needs to be done."

Taleen's intelligence helps make her a participant in planning her career. "I'm hoping the album will do well overseas -- I'm releasing it there first," she explained. "Then get a distribution deal in the States, release the album over here and have it do well."

Beyond selling records, "I'd love to do a world tour and go everywhere and perform," said Taleen, who transferred from Flint Hill School to Oakton High School at the beginning of the school year so she could keep up her studies online while traveling. "And the publicity, the interviews, the whole package -- that's what I want."

Her gradual entry into professional singing has prepared the teenager perfectly. Taleen's mother, an independent business owner, and father, a lawyer, said they noticed their daughter's musical precociousness early; by age 5 she was taking voice lessons. At 9, Taleen began singing with the Washington Opera company at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. At 12, she sang the national anthem at MCI Center before a Washington Wizards game and performed the "Ave Maria" a cappella for the pope in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The two appearances before the pope were the highlight of her career, Taleen said. "And the single," she added, "hearing it on the radio for the first time."

Before turning 13, she belted out "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Washington Redskins preseason game at FedEx Field. Taleen, still a small, skinny girl, finished with such a flourish that the crowd roared. Taleen's preteen exploits were chronicled in newspaper articles, including The Washington Post. As Taleen grew into her teens, she focused on school, making only a few public appearances. "We turned down so many things," Taleen said, including a White House invitation. "It was hard, to be in school, to have a normal childhood," Taleen said. "I think we handled it really well."

In April 2002, Taleen sang a medley at the annual Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards Gala in Washington honoring Queen Noor of Jordan. The rock star Sting also appeared, later cracking, "Taleen upstaged me," her mother said.

The international star and the Flint Hill freshman hung out together that night, Taleen said, talking about Sting's old band, the Police, and about singing and style. As a result, she didn't finish her homework that night.

At school the next day, Taleen resisted the urge to brag, she said. But teachers didn't believe the "Sting-ate-my-homework" excuse. One teacher even sent her to detention, she said.

Last year, Taleen's family began shuttling her to New York to work with Don Lawrence, a voice coach who has trained singers such as Mick Jagger and Christina Aguilera. There, she also was introduced to various music industry professionals, many of whom were eager to help promote the budding singer's career.

Phil Berberian, a former music executive in New York with experience producing and managing artists, said he was knocked out the first time he heard Taleen in person.

"It was hard to believe that kind of emotion was coming out of a 16-year-old," Berberian said. "She can communicate with her audience -- I think that's what separates her."

Taleen's bubbly, youthful personality doubtless contributes to her appeal, whether she is singing for 80,000 people at FedEx Field or for 80 at Jammin' Java in Vienna. She said she feels at ease on stage.

"I know this is, like, cliche, but to see the different smiles on different faces, it doesn't feel like work," said Taleen, now a willowy 5 feet 7 inches. "The feedback that you get from the audience is different every time."

Songs like "Gotta Let It Go" are not for the Nickelodeon set. When she released the single in the United Arab Emirates, where her father sometimes does legal work, it made a serious splash.

A local magazine placed her on the cover, sandwiched between Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. She did two concerts, combining pop and classical songs, appeared on the radio with wisecracking British disc jockeys, gave talks to two college groups and appeared on an all-business channel to discuss her career plan with a deadly serious anchorwoman. Taleen handled the appearances with poise and good humor.

Though only 16, Taleen doesn't want her audience limited to teenagers. "Normal people, they can't connect with Britney Spears," she said. "People are getting more and more into the serious, soulful artist."

Her musical influences are vast: She cites blues singers such as Etta James and Billie Holliday, hard rockers such as Metallica and System of a Down, pop artists John Mayer and Justin Timberlake, even rappers like Ludacris and Jay-Z, all incorporated into the background of classical and opera from which she started. An Armenian duduk, similar to a recorder, opens "Gotta Let It Go" before synthesizers and bass take over.

"I listen to everything," Taleen said. She calls her sound "musaique," a combination of music and mosaic, to describe her variety of sounds. "One song is almost John Mayer-like," she said of her album, "another song is a little urban, with R&B and pop. Another is a ballad with strings." The entire album is sketched out and should be done by summer.

Berberian said that for most artists, such a diversity of music styles on one album would be unsalable. But he believes Taleen can pull it off.

"We want this first effort to be a representation of all the things she can do," he said. "Most record companies would say you're crazy. But this is an unconventional situation. And I find myself thinking and doing unconventional things."

Berberian said Taleen was "very advanced as far as her ear, her production," and said she devises new ideas for arrangements or introductions on the spot. He applauded Taleen's decision to avoid a record company until the album is complete. "With a major record label, she would have no say," Berberian said. "This is going to be a lot better for her in the long run."

Marco Delmar, who is co-producing two other songs for Taleen out of his Recording Arts studio in Fairfax, said, "I'm fascinated by her material. Part of my job is to pull talent out of people. With her, it's quite the other way. It's a matter of seeing all the things that are coming at you and helping her make the best choice."

Delmar said Taleen has a uniquely bright future. "She's got a great voice, great creativity, and she's a stable person. I've seen combinations of those, but rarely all three. She's just a real joy to work with."

You can hear the first half of "Gotta Let It Go" on Taleen's Web site,www.taleen.com.

http://www.taleen.com/