يا حبيبي

Last semester, my best friend asked if I would take a class with her. Sure, I said. Why not?

Just like that, I became the newest member of Philadelphia's Arabic choir, Al-Bustan.

I spent the rest of the semester learning the subtle difference between the voiced and voiceless emphatic dental -- and loving every moment. Arabic is an unspeakably (...literally, in my case) beautiful language, and its rich history explodes into every rolled r expressed in a quarter-tone register unknown to Western musical scales.

Want to hear what I mean? Check out a piece from our final performance here!

Here's to another semester of adventures and challenges, inshallah -- 

L