{"id":383795,"date":"2025-03-08T18:27:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T21:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=383795"},"modified":"2025-03-08T18:27:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T21:27:53","slug":"singer-brings-arab-music-to-weddings-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/singer-brings-arab-music-to-weddings-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer brings Arab music to weddings in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Lebanese<\/strong>-born Kaiss Ramah<\/a>, 44, has become a popular wedding singer among the Arab community<\/strong> in Brazil. Alongside his band, which features traditional instruments from his homeland, he brings the music of his culture to the children and grandchildren of Arabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after nearly two decades in Brazil, his accent remains, as he sings only in his native language at celebrations. \u201cFor the past five or six years, I\u2019ve had a fixed band. One member is Arab, and the others are Brazilian, but they all play Arab instruments, which makes a big difference because I only sing in Arabic. These instruments bring more authenticity to my music,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Lebanese
Lebanese singer always performs in Arabic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He has a growing fan base on social media. On Instagram, the Arab singer has over 88,000 followers, and on TikTok<\/a> nearly 4,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eldest of five siblings, Ramah showed an interest in singing from a young age. He would often sing alongside his paternal grandfather and father since he was seven years old. \u201cThey always sang and played music at my house, so the desire to sing and play came naturally to me. I always saw myself as a singer, and during my teenage years, I started doing my first performances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of singing informally in restaurants, the Lebanese singer decided to study music at a Lebanese school to hone the art he was called to. While living in Lebanon, he performed at festivals and even participated in music programs on local television channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His move to Brazil happened years later, in an unplanned way, in 2006. \u201cI was invited by one of my mother\u2019s relatives, who lived in Brazil, to visit the country. I\u2019d never been to Brazil before, but when my relatives found out I was coming, I ended up singing for part of the Arab community living in the city of S\u00e3o Bernardo, in S\u00e3o Paulo [state], at a party they threw for me. And I never left,\u201d Ramah recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invitations in Brazil<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After the celebration, Ramah’s reputation as a good singer spread within the community, and soon wedding invitations began to arrive. The singer adapted to the local culture and ended up not returning to his home country. During the day, he learned to speak Portuguese while working in a factory, and in his free time, on weekends, he performed at Arab weddings.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Invitations
Invitations to sing came, and Ramah stayed in Brazil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cAt first, adapting to the language was difficult because no one spoke English, and Portuguese is hard to learn. However, months later, I was able to communicate. After living in S\u00e3o Bernardo for a while, I moved to an apartment in Vila Mariana, a neighborhood in the southern area of S\u00e3o Paulo,\u201d says Ramah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow I live with my wife, who is Moroccan, and our children in an apartment in Tatuap\u00e9, a neighborhood in the eastern area of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the Arab community, the Lebanese singer also wants to be recognized by Brazilians. \u201cI\u2019ve already partnered with the duo Fernando & Sorocaba, with ax\u00e9 singer Cl\u00e1udia Leitte, and with Anitta, and I\u2019ve also participated in the Festa do Pe\u00e3o de Barretos. I\u2019m about to release a song with a former Big Brother Brazil contestant. He will sing the Portuguese part, and I\u2019ll sing in Arabic,\u201d says Ramah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His reputation as a great singer also follows him outside of Brazil. Almost every time he returns home, he performs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve also sung in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and in Syria. Singing in these Arab countries gives me more freedom because people understand what I\u2019m singing. On the other hand, they\u2019re more demanding of the singers who perform there. To sing there, you really need to be good,\u201d Ramah adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:<\/em>
Artist creates 9,000 flowers for Arab celebration<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report by Rebecca Vettore, in collaboration with ANBA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bassam Younes<\/div>
Bassam Younes<\/div>
Bassam Younes<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaiss Ramah performs alongside his band at celebrations of Arab descendants in Brazil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2342,"featured_media":383760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[9583,22644,9534,26555,9621,48585,51067,14869,52591],"class_list":{"0":"post-383795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-arabs-en","9":"tag-brasil-en-2","10":"tag-brazil-en","11":"tag-dubai-en-2","12":"tag-dubai-en","13":"tag-lebanon-2","14":"tag-singers","15":"tag-siria-en-2","16":"tag-weddings"},"wps_subtitle":"Kaiss Ramah performs alongside his band at celebrations of Arab descendants in Brazil.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}