| About Zieryeb Meickal | Zieryeb Meickal (known by other names, such as Ziryab Michael or Ziryeb) was born in Morocco and played guitar at the age of 5, through autodidacticism. He could play any piece he listened to by ear. At the age of 7, he listened to Mozart, and started composing classical music in his head. Unfortunately, he did not pursue musical studies later in his life, but rather focused on pursuing a scientific career. He studied in prestigious schools in Paris, and obtained a Ph.D in Mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University. Michael Jackson was his favorite modern artist, and when he died, it was the moment Zieryeb decided to return to music and start composing again, as a way to honor the legacy left behind Michael. Zieryeb's music and character are inspired from three main sources: 1) The 9th century AD Arab musician, Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Nafi', known by the alias Ziryab, which means black bird in Arabic. Ziryab is the father of the spanish guitar and flamenco genre (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziryab). 2) Mozart 3) Michael Jackson Zieryeb, as a musical character, aspires to combine the above three persons into one person who is living in the 21st century, listens to the current music trends, and tries to blend in this world and compose a good quality music that can still be understood in our times. To this complex mix (Ziryab, Mozart and Michael Jackson all combined), add to this other spices coming from a sufi and spiritual background of Zieryeb Meickal and his interest in embracing all the cultures of the world and their musical genres. The result of all of this is a musical style that is basically the sum of so many things at once. To illustrate the idea, take for example Zieryeb's song "Drops of Rain" (part of the "Awakening" album). The song starts with pianos and violins playing classical music as if the beginning of a symphony composed by Mozart, then the Harp makes a smooth transition to the Pop melody and drums. The song takes you from classical music to current Pop music in one shot and in such a smooth way that both genres become one. As to the lyrics of the songs composed by Zieryeb Meickal, they are usually either from famous poets of the past, such as Rumi, Ibn Arabi, etc… or written by Zieryeb himself to talk about important current events in our time. |
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