Rima Khcheich

Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich was born in the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon, in 1974. She began singing classical Arabic music at the age of nine, and was awarded the bronze medal at the Bizert Festival for Mediterranean Song in Tunisia in 1985.

Rima’s singing career began at a young age with the children’s choir at the Arabic Cultural Club in Beirut, and later evolved into a solo performance with the Beirut Oriental Troop for Arabic Music under the supervision and direction of Maestro Salim Sahab.

Rima went on to study the tradition of classical Arabic singing at The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut; her efforts were supported by her father Kamel Khcheich who encouraged her to memorize and master classics from the Arabic music heritage including Muwashahat, Adwar and other styles. She has performed the music of the great masters Zakariah Ahmad, Al-Kassabji, Sayyed Darwish, Kamel Al Khal’i and Muhammad Abdel Wahab, amongst others.

Having participated in various concerts in Lebanon and around the world, Rima has gained international repute and admiration for her gift in performing complex Arabic classical forms such as Dor ‘Emta El hawa’, and Muwashah “Anta al Mudallal.” Since 2001 she has collaborated with the esteemed Dutch jazz ensemble, the Yuri Honing Trio, and has recorded three albums — “Orient Express”, “Yalalalli” and her most recent release, “Falak” — in which she seamlessly melds the established Arabic song repertoire into the western jazz idiom, creating an exciting new sub-genre.

In addition to her solo career, Rima teaches oriental singing at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music and is invited on a yearly basis to the United States where she teaches voice and classical Arabic singing at the annual Arabic Music Retreat held at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, directed by renown musician and composer Simon Shaheen.