Ala Ghawas
| Ala Ghawas | |
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Ala Ghawas performing at Bahrain Fort, January 2014
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alaa Abdulla Ghawas |
| Born | 22 July 1981 |
| Origin | Muharraq, Kingdom of Bahrain |
| Genres | Indie Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, Musician, Record Producer, Lyricist |
| Instruments | Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboard, Accordion |
| Years active | 2006 - present |
| Associated acts | Likwid, Mohammed Haddad |
| Website | www.alaghawas.com |
Ala Ghawas [Arabic: علاء غوّاص] (born 22 July 1981) is a Bahraini independent singer-songwriter, musician & record producer.
Ghawas recorded and released his debut EP, “Hums”, in 2007 during his time in Boston as a Fulbright Scholar. The release was received positively by the Bahraini media upon his return and then followed by another two critically acclaimed EPs, “Whispers” in 2008 and “Screams” in 2009.
After a series of performances in music festivals, on November 19, 2009, Ghawas performed his first solo show at the prestigious concert hall of Shaikh Ebrahim Center in Muharraq. The recordings from the concert were released digitally later in 2011 on iTunes as a live album entitled "Live from Muharraq" and it contains live renditions from Hums, Whispers and Screams along with Elliott Smith's cover "Between the Bars" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Ghawas mentioned in later interviews that Hallelujah's cover was actually inspired by Jeff Buckley's version.
Starting 2011, Ghawas spent almost three years writing new songs for his debut LP, “Armor”, and partnered with the Bahraini band, ‘Likwid’, for the recording of these songs. The album was released in November 2013 and featured his most popular single to date, “Raven”. After the release of Armor, the partnership between Ala Ghawas and Likwid took more adventurous grounds with a series of live performances to promote the album in Bahrain, Dubai and Cairo.
Later in 2015, Ghawas invited Likwid to record and film a live concert and a documentary at his house and called it "Ala Ghawas & Likwid: Live from Allston". Ala named his house "Allston" honoring the small town in the city of Boston where he used to live in 2006 and 2007. The film was produced and directed by Bahraini filmmaker 'Saleh Nass'.
Ghawas' 5th studio album is titled "Tryst" and it is scheduled to be released in October 2017.
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