Imagine the Magic

As I sit and listen to the music fill the Second Life air and that of my living room…it seemed that technology transcends the obstacles that keeps us all apart in real life. Together we gathered to hear the wonderful music of Ridha once again. The magic that is the moment never ceases to amaze me. Ridha brings us together and holds the virtual room in a way few can. We come together…from all over this planet to share our lives for this time. We share the love in the room, we share our Ridha. It was truly a magical night---thank you my friend. You truly are a gift.

Ridha Appears on Television in USA

While Ridha was on his USA tour, he had the opportunity to appear of several radio and TV interview programs including “Celebrate Michigan” which is seen on TV 20 Detroit.

Celebrate Michigan is a upbeat ½ hour program that celebrates the good things happening in and around the state of Michigan. While on the program, Ridha played 4 original songs and was interviewed by Christy Malene and Matt Bizer.

WMYD (My TV20 Detroit) is Detroit, Michigan's MyNetworkTV affiliate station, owned and operated by Granite Broadcasting. The station is home of The Detroit Pistons and offers a blend of off-network sitcoms, first-run syndicated reality/talk, action hours, first-run programming and cartoons from 4Kids TV. On cable, WMYD can be seen throughout Southeast Michigan and southern Canada. It can also be found on DirecTV (Channel 887) and Echo Star/Dish Network (Channel 505).

Yeah Ridha on another brilliant as always performance!

Concert of Colors

During Ridha’s USA tour he was able to mingle with some of Detroit’s all time great musicians at the “Concert of Colors” which promotes diversity and unites people through music. Concert of Colors presents free indoor performances by musical acts from Detroit and around the world and an outdoor street festival with food, entertainment and family fun. Ridha was invited backstage and even got to be part of the festivities at the end of the evening when all the acts came together for one big song.

Some of the artists included:

Don Was who is not only a great bass player and member of the Was Not Was band, but may be best known as a highly successful record producer. He has worked with an eclectic array of gifted artists ranging from The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Ziggy Marley, Bob Seger, Al Green, Garth Brooks, Ringo Starr, Iggy Pop, Lyle Lovett, Kris Kristofferson, Joe Cocker, Hootie and The Blowfish, Amos Lee and Willie Nelson to Elton John, Stevie Nicks, George Clinton, Randy Newman, The Black Crowes, Carly Simon, Travis Tritt, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, The Barenaked Ladies and Cheb Khaled.

Terry Hughley, one of Detroit’s premiere drummers has kept the beat for such greats as The Platters, Mitch Ryder, Don Was, The Drifters, The Coasters and the Sun Messengers to name a few.

Alberta Adams who’s been the Queen of the blues scene in Detroit for over 50 years. She has toured extensively with Louis Jordan, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, T-Bone Walker, James Moody and Duke Ellington and recorded extensively particularly in the jump type blues style that is her repertoire today.

Whenever musicians can get together and swap energy it’s a good thing. We hope that Ridha takes a little piece of the Detroit sound back with him as he starts his new musical journeys.

MEA TV-Radio Music and Cultural Event

Ridha performed live before a large crowd in downtown Warren, Michigan for the MEA TV-Radio Music and Cultural Festival, Friday, July 16^th. Before the show he did a 10 minute live interview on the radio. There were rave reviews to his performance.

Here is a little blurb about the event:

The MEA Cultural & Music Festival was a complete success! We are so thankful for the community support, volunteers, performers, vendors, staff & most of all for the 85,000 people that attended!! We hope you all enjoyed it and we hope that you will join us every year!

Many thanks to Ridha’s sponsors for this event: Yamaha Music, Steve Garmo & Associates and Madonna University.

Ridha in the USA Part 1

Ridha has been in the USA sharing his music with us on this side of the big pond. It has been an amazing time. I will try to post some things here to update you.

The first thing I would like to share is a blog post from a lady named Diane. She wrote this about a show Ridha performed on the campus of Madonna University. Though Diane paints the perfect picture, I have included some snapshots by our good friend Richard Blondy just to solidify the image of that magical night in your mind. If you were lucky enough to be there--it was amazing. Hopefully if you were not...you caught the excitement live on the Internet because it was streamed across our big blue planet.

This weekend I had an opportunity to soak up and enjoy a concert in a magical setting:

Envision a perfect Michigan evening; temperatures in the mid 80′s, a balmy and cooling Northerly breeze, puffy white clouds overhead. Add a beautiful outdoor venue; grassy lawn, pond with dual fountains, a great blue heron periodically flying in and out of view, gorgeously majestic weeping willow trees and manicured flower beds perfectly placed. Now imagine almost 100 people ~ families and friends ~ sitting on blankets, in lawn chairs and milling about awaiting the beginning of a concert featuring a warm-up guitar band, followed by Tunisian musical artist, Ridha Ibrahim and our daughter interpreting two of the songs in Sign Language.

I was fortunate to participate in this idyllic setting/concert and was astounded by the experience. While listening to Ridha’s songs as his fingers were flying over the keyboard, I was swept away by the peace enveloping me. Music can do that. It can hug me while lifting my spirit with beautiful sights and sounds. A dedicated TV crew was taping the concert for live stream so others could experience the event around the world. Photographers were capturing the mood with candid shots of the musicians and guests. As I looked around, people were gently moving to the music and smiling. I saw children dancing with abandon, chasing fireflies and laughing. I observed couples quietly chatting. During a slow song, my heart melted and tears stung my eyes as a man with one leg carefully stood from his wheelchair and danced with his wife; she balancing and supporting them. The love, tenderness and respect they shared in that spontaneous moment was priceless.

The evening was a gift that touched my heart and energized my spirit. Thank you to all who made the event possible.

Happy Birthday Ridha!

Friends

Today Ridha played in the Second Life SIM of Stregatti for a very wonderful crowd who could not get enough of him. It was a large crowd, so large in fact, that the SIM crashed and we all had to wait until it was back up to continue on with the music. It was ok though, all the amazing fans came back and listened to the rest of the show.

What a great show. I always try to pick a highlight, tonight I am going to say the highlight was all the old friends getting back together to once again celebrate the music.

Another Wonderful Concert

As is always the case in Second Life, people from all parts of our beautiful planet came together in a SIM to enjoy Ridha’s music. Today, it was in an Italian SIM called Stregatti, but it could have been in a Greek world, an Arabic world or an American one. It doesn’t matter, what mattered was people once again gathered to enjoy the music and share the love and good feelings of the show. Lots of great songs, hard to pick a highlight, it always is. I think the highlight tonight was Kan Ya Makan. People loved the song and the feelings it gave. Reaching out to not only his normal audience but to deaf people as well.

Another good show by our Ridha. We hope he continues to perform for us for many years to come.

Second Life premiere of "Kan Ya Makan"

Today in Second Life we celebrated the beauty of a musician reaching out to his virtual audience and celebrating his rt project. Ridha Ibrahim introduced the Second Life world to his musical project "Kan Ya Makan" that is not only a virtual song but a music video that gives this talented artist the opportunity to reach out to an unexpected audience, Deaf people. The song has been celebrated in the United States for a few weeks now, but it was especially sweet hearing Ridha sing the words of this beautiful love song live. A chill went down my spine as I thought about the lovely words that he has weaved and the fact that it was so important to him to share his talents with all people. What a lovely song, what an amazing artist. The other two hours of the show whirled by too quickly. People stood around a long time after the show, not wanting it to end. What an amazing moment to be part of. I have included an article at the end of this text explaining the "Kan Ya Makan" (Once Upon a Time) video project to give you a little insight. Thanks Ridha, it has been expressed several times by many people that you are a treasure...and surely you are.

To view the complete video go here.

A unique music video produced at Madonna University transcends language barriers to inspire, entertain and tug the heartstrings of people from many cultures simultaneously.

Featuring Tunisian-born singer/songwriter Ridha Ibrahim and Livonia resident Kaitlyn Mann, a Madonna University sign language student, Kan Ya Makan or Once Upon a Time will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Madonna University as part of the University's Diversity Week Celebration.

The video also will stream live atwww.madonnau.com/live. People from around the world will participate in the event in the virtual worlds of Second Life. Questions can be posted on Facebook at Ridha Ibrahim's site. Following the video's debut, there will be a panel discussion regarding all the elements of its creation including the learning process, technical aspects - video, musical and sign language — as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video.

The impetus for Kan Ya Makan occurred when Ibrahim saw Madonna sign language studentsperforming translations of their favorite songs. “I saw sign language as a way to reach out to the Deaf community with my music,” said Ibrahim, who works to communicate with all cultures through his songs. “Working with Madonna's faculty and students was a great experience. Katie Mann did a beautiful job of artistically translating my words and melody into American Sign Language,” he said.

The song is a love story that blends eastern and western melodies with Arabic lyrics. “Due to my lack of knowledge of Arabic, Ridha and I spent over 30 hours translating the song to English,” said Mann. “This was an opportunity for me to dig deeper than the simple word-for-word approach of transliteration. Ridha explained the song's deeper meanings and allegories,” wrote Mann in her study guide for the project.

In an effort to match Ibrahim's musical poetry, Mann enlisted the talents of Dan McDougall, director of Madonna's Sign Language Studies program, to create a poetic American Sign Language interpretation of the song. “The creative nature of this project allowed Katie to explore concepts of ASL poetry taught in class and to stretch them to their limits with dance. The end result is not uniquely hearing, nor uniquely Deaf - it's somewhere in-between.” Each moment of the Kan Ya Makan video contains symbols - words, signs, images - all chosen and combined purposefully.

Sue Boyd, Franciscan Studios manager at Madonna, produced the music video with assistance from Madonna faculty and students in the Broadcast and Cinema Arts program. There was more to the video than just music and sign. The crew invested 30 hours filming. Then Boyd logged another 200 hours editing - painstakingly matching up frames filled with two languages that she didn't know. “The result is a video that throws open the door to music for members of the Deaf community,” said Mann.

Sign Language Studies and Broadcast and Cinema Arts are among the more than 75 undergraduate academic programs offered at Madonna University.

Music Video Released!

After much anticipation Ridha's latest video has been released. Please take a look and have a listen at "Kan Ya Makan" (Once Upon a Time). Click here to go to video.

Blurring the Boundries of language, Culture, Sight & Sound

If you can't join us in person, join us on line here!

Ridha Rocks!

Saturday night Ridha rocked the house at the Eagle Games SIM in Second Life. Alas, I was not able to stay for the whole show but from all indications the second half of the gig was even hotter than the first (is this possible?) Ridha seems to have rediscovered those desert roots and has been signing a lot of songs inspired from the lands of sand, sunshine and cous cous (much to the delight of the people in attendance!) What is in store next for this multitalented performer? Time will tell. :-)

To see some of Ridha's real life video's check out his YouTube page at: Ridha Music

Tonight in the Kingdom of Jordan

Tonight Ridha played at the Kingdom of Jordan to a packed crowd. It's always fun for me to see how new people to Ridha's music react to him...and boy did they! The cheers were deafening as he played song after song to the appreciative crowd. He opened up with a little swing number then went into a Tunisian song "Lamouni elly Gharou meni." Wow...I don't know what the original song sounded like but I know he "Ridhafied" it as only he can and I know from the reaction of the crowd it was even more special because of it. So many highlights but I think for me it was seeing everyone connecting to Ridha's roots. In a crowd like this you expect them to enjoy the wide array of arabic tunes, but everyone loved them. It's always fun to see people cheer Ridha, whether they are Arabic, Italian, French or American but tonight seeing him touch people from countries that connect to his roots was very special, very special indeed.

Was a "Hunny" of a Show

Ridha rocked the house at Lemania Indigo's SIM tonight, in fact so many people were there the SIM crashed and Linden Labs had to reboot it so Ridha could finish out the concert. It was an amazing evening that ended with one "hunny" of a song. We miss you Ridha, come back more often!