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Syrian-Armenian singer Lena Chamamyan’s wrapped up the successful 22nd Bahrain International Music Festival with a memorable concert at the Cultural Hall.

Chamamyan kept the packed venue mesmerized with her unique style, in which she blends traditional styles of eastern songs and instruments from the Arab world and Armenia with western classics, while preserving its innate spirit.

Through her works, Lena revives folkloric songs - especially Syrian ones - with modern styles and arrangements, most notably oriental jazz, thereby creating a bridge between oriental classic music and contemporary world music which has won her legions of fans around the world.
In her concert, which marked her debut in Bahrain, Chemamyan performed a selection of songs from her albums, Hal Asmar El-Lon, Shamat, and Ghazal El-Banat, as well as her latest project “Hannah and Blossoms”.

A classically trained singer, the multi-talented Chamamyan’s passion drove to become one of the few eastern women who write, produce, and play music, as well as sing, performing in a large number of prestigious Arab and international musical festivals.

In recognition of her notable contributions, she was awarded the Cultural Resource Award in Egypt in 2006 and the Radio Monte Carlo Middle East Award in 2006. In 2011, she earned a spot on Arabian Business magazine’s list of the 500 Most Influential People in the Arab World.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, the theme of the 22nd Bahrain International Music Festival focused on musical innovators in a wide range of genres such as opera, Latin, Western classical, Arabic, and Azerbaijani music.

The festival featured six concerts in six nights with a distinguished lineup of award-winning artists and groups, including Crazy Opera (Lebanon), Klazz Brothers and Cuba Percussion (Cuba, Germany, and Colombia), Palestine National Ensemble for Arabic Music (Palestine), Alim Qasimov Ensemble (Azerbaijan), Prague Chamber Orchestra (Czech Republic), in addition to Chamamyan.