Haitham Shomali

Haitham Shomali (in Arabic هيثم الشوملي, born October 22, 1986) is a Palestinian singer, songwriter, composer and director.He was born in the United Arab Emirates.As the youngest of 5 children (4 boys and 1 girl), and privy to a very musical family, his brothers would take him along with them to perform from the age of 7.As a young boy, he became proficient at a total of 13 instruments: piano, keyboards, violin, saz, bouzouki, accordion, oud, guitar, bass guitar, drums, darbuka, riq, katem and bongos.At the age of 9 his father took him to Egypt and produced an album for Haitham called "Markeb Waraa".Following that, he began performing his own concerts in the Middle East. In 2001, Haitham and his family moved to the United States, where he attended high school.In 2005, Haitham competed and was chosen to join one of the most famous programs in the Middle East, Superstar now Arab Idol, the equivalent to, American Idol.He then moved to Lebanon and began his successful career.He currently resides in Amman, Jordan. In 2007, Haitham released his first single, titled "Sho Emelte Feye" (What Have You Done to Me) which was a big hit.The song was composed by Haitham, and the music video was directed by Waleed Naseef, director of famous veteran Middle Eastern singers. In 2008, Haitham sang on a movie soundtrack, sponsored by Pepsi, titled "Baher El Nojoom".This included his second successful song titled, "Tlatee Mnaen" (Where Did You Come From).In that same album, he composed veteran singer, Wael Khfoury's song, "Shu Mbakakee" (What Made You Cry).In that same year, he began composing for other artists as well. In 2009, he composed a new song for the artist Ayman Zbeeb, called "Ma Bdaa Tooul" (She Doesn't Want to Say) and compositions for several other artists have followed since. In 2010, Haitham, created his third single called, "Shu Sayer" (What's Happened).This song was also composed by him, but arranged by artist Michael Fadel. In 2012, Haitham, released his new album, "Jowa El Alb" (Inside the Heart).It contained 11 songs, all of which were composed and arranged by him.Other successful songs from that album are, "Enta Habibi" (You Are My Love), "Ya Helweh" (Hey Beautiful), and "Sayer Hanoon" (You have Become Emotional). Haitham, has been studying music since the age of 12 and completed his studies in film making.Most recently he showed his talents through his side company, Shomali Group Productions. In November 2013, Haitham Shomali, won the Golden Mosaic Award.For this award a large television audience was required to vote on who they believed to be the most talented artist with the best album for 2012, his album, “Jowa El Alb,” (From the Heart) was chosen as the winner. In February 2014, Haitham, along with four other Palestinian singers, made the news for their collaboration in the commercial and music clip for the telecommunications provider Jawwal, titled, "Kol Yom Jdeed".In June 2014, Haitham received an award at the 25th annual ADC convention in Washington DC for the "Excellence in Arts". Following that in September 2014, Haitham and a group of veteran Palestinian artists completed a patriotic song dedicated to Gaza, Palestine, titled, "Operate Gaza", which received much acclaim from the Middle East media.The fall of 2014, he had an American music tour singing in Indianapolis, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan. In 2015, Haitham was in the states and had not seen his mom in a very long time so he decided to dedicate a song for her in celebration of Mother's Day.The hit Aghla El Ahbab was released at the end of 2016 and became a favorite for many fans.Haitham started 2017 off with a surprise live performance of the song Sharebne Ahwe for his fans and audience at a Valentine's Day Party in Nazareth.It was written by Fadi Ghantous, which is a good friend of Haitham's, and composed by the artist himself.The audience, along with fans all over, loved the idea of this surprise.On May 8, a friend of Haitham's sent him a Saint Charbel prayer card.St Charbel is a very well known Saint from Lebanon that has performed, and continues to perform, many miracles.The words on the prayer card touched Haitham's heart and inspired him to instantly compose a hymn out of them.This was released within a couple of days for fans all over to listen to. The newest and most recent hit Wallah Lankayef, meaning "let's have a blast," was released on September 10. The song was written, composed, and arranged all by Haitham.The music video was shot in Kiev, Ukraine with the well known director Ziad Khouri.