Abu Dhabi: An all-women band performed a concert for around 200 guests at the US ambassador’s residence in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening.
Najmaat, a four-piece group who play violin, qanun, oud, piano and percussion, performed to an audience of officials, ambassadors and students at US Ambassador Barbara A. Leaf’s residence in the capital. Their spectacular performance had the audience giving them a standing ovation.
Najmaat, founded in 2011 by oud professor Sherine Tohamy, is one of the few all-women bands in the UAE. A distinguishing feature of the band is its members are all from diverse backgrounds and they play both Western and Eastern instruments.
Leaf, who introduced the band to the stage and was visibly moved by their performance, told Gulf News, “What you feel this evening is the music lifting everybody and taking [them] away from day-to-day cares ... [to] put you in a beautiful place. I am proud of them, I am proud that we have an American woman among the group but each one of them is a star in their own right.”
The Najmaat ladies — Sherine Tohamy, Corinne Stokes, Mounia Hajji and Hanaa Abukhris — were performing the second of four invitation-only concerts that have been organised by the US embassy, with the remaining two concerts expected to be played in Dubai and Fujairah.
They played 11 compositions that included a mix of western classics and a few of their own compositions.
“East and West meeting and mixing and matching, whether it was Dean Martin or one of the classical pieces, or one of Sherine’s own compositions, it just made me melt,” said Leaf.
Najmaat told Gulf News they were very excited to be playing as part of this series of concerts organised by the US embassy and hoped their music brought “happiness” to people.
“Every one of us [in the band] comes from a different country. We hope we can reach out to them [the audience] with our own culture,” said Tohamy, the founder of the band.
