“My definition of success is being connected to your gift and using it to the best of your ability, and enjoying the journey while creating…It’s when satisfaction of doing the action itself, and being in pure bliss… ” – Joelle Sahar @famousstage

GETTING TO KNOW JOELLE SAHAR
By Jacqueline Jax – Host A.V.A Live Radio

Joelle Sahar is a BMI Singer/Songwriter & Composer from Los Angeles, Ca. Her specialty is melodic songwriting in the pop, dance, Middle-Eastern and classical genres.

What happens when you consistently get influenced by Middle-Eastern exotic rhythms, French, Latin & Italian ballads, traditional gypsy, jazz, and beautiful classical symphonic works since the day you are born? it casts a musical spell on a soul, whose everlasting voyage has no other escape than international expression. Melodic ingenuity and unparalleled infatuation with love of music is what led this Lebanese-American songwriter to set off a hefty leap to soar all the music of the world into one simple melody, which embraced many different styles in the process. After listening to her latest musical icons legendary producer Quincy Jones and composer John Williams, Joelle burst onto the music scene with sudden flashes of inspiration and started writing songs at 17.

More doors opened up after she was offered gigs to perform along with International artists at prestigious venues such as The Kodak Theater, The Greek Theater, and Bellagio (Vegas). This time also marked the beginning of experimentation and finding her own signature musical style. Her songs grabbed the attention of Santana’s vocal band member & Latin/pop recording artist Andy Vargas, who re-recorded one of her favorite cuts, “Beautiful World”. She was later offered to blend her Middle-Eastern vocals on the recently released Hollywood Film Music Library compilation “Middle-Eastern Journeys”, by 3 time Emmy-nominated film composer/producer Robert J. Walsh, (Friends, American Beauty, X-Men, etc)
She later on had the opportunity to work with Miles Copeland (Sting, the Police, Bangles, REM), and founded the Bellydance Superstars concept. She became the Executive Producer for all their albums (Universal Music Distribution) and as a result, some of her songs were featured on the albums, and gained International recognition. Bellydance Superstars is capturing the attention of thousands and millions of viewers. Hailed as “The next Riverdance” (Sunday Times London, the Bellydance Superstars performed over 800 shows in 25 countries to over 1 million people, including the Lolapalooza Tour and the World Peace Music Awards in Bali and more than 60 television shows to over 100 million viewers. This tour included many TV shows (Jimmy Kimmel, FOX, CBS, ABC, NBC, KTLA, MTV, CNN) as well as store promotions at Virgin, Borders, Tower Records, and Capezio stores. They were also featured on PBS, and recently on Live with Kelly and Michael (ABC).

The Bellydance Superstars have been at the forefront of the dramatic worldwide growth in prestige and popularity of the art of Bellydance itself, taking this once largely solo dance and ancient art of Middle Eastern culture into the 21st Century mainstream as a major theatrical dance extravaganza appealing to a wide spectrum of dance enthusiasts. Today, the Bellydance Superstars are the #1 bestselling bellydance albums worldwide, thanks to their constant tours and incredible success. (www.bellydancesuperstars.com)
Her Middle-Eastern ethereal chanting grabbed the attention of Solarcade, a rock group who opened for The Killers tour in 2009. She wrote the Arabic duet, and had her song placed as the opening for The Killers concert tour.

She then founded FAMOUS STAGE ENTERTAINMENT, specializing in the exclusive nightlife events throughout Los Angeles.

Joelle Sahar has since been writing for numerous artists, and is currently working on her pop album debut with a Middle-Eastern twist under her production company MUSIC SHE WROTE, a music songwriting and production company, focusing on melodic songs and blending new projects and entertainment events alongside the entertainment company Famous Stage Entertainment. While she wrote for various artists in dance, pop and Middle-Eastern styles. She has been in love with fusing different musical elements together to bring a constant original sound, while not losing focus on the importance of melodic structure.

Music Start…
I started playing piano when I was 3, my dad is a violinist, and he’s been my first teacher in installing music in me and teaching to compose.

Tell me you’ll stay …
It’s a love song about feeling fully alive knowing the person you love will be there, seeing a shining light when that person is around, nothing is impossible, an enormous joy and and intense happiness. It’s the feeling I have for my husband, so it was definitely coming from that energy.

Listen to the Interview  : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2015/05/21/episode-236-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax

The Valley in LA…
I live in sherman oaks area of the valley in LA. There’s tons of music industry people as well as big artists and actors in Sherman Oaks,
I love to produce music and dance shows, I’m also a professional bellydancer, and been performing at shows for years now. Fun things are creating music that is not always the norm, stretching my limits.. I’m pretty simple, creative by nature. I’m able to create from different energies, whether it’s writing a melody instantly from just
looking at a picture, person, or event.

Social Media…
I love social media because I met some amazing people and got to connect with people I would only dream of meeting.
Challenges is having the ability to shut off the digital world and unwind.. Sometimes it’s just too much..

Trends..
I don’t mind being current and trendy, if I’m in the right space and energy, that’s what I will write, it happens naturally, and the song is done really fast. I don’t think about it too much. I write everything, from Pop, to classical to Middle-Eastern music genres. Sometimes the song is for Andrea Boccelli, sometimes it’s for Jennifer Hudson…

Success…
AHA! There’s a question I love to answer… My definition of success is being connected to your gift and using it to the best of your ability, and enjoying the journey while creating…It’s when satisfaction of doing the action itself, and being in pure bliss… whether people hear it or not, making $ or not. Just doing the action of, and enjoying to its fullest extent is what success means to me.

SOCIAL LINKS
joellesahar.com
soundcloud.com/joelle-sahar
reverbnation.com/joellesahar
youtube.com/joellesaharmusic
Facebook.com/joellesaharmusic
twitter.com/famousstage
Linkedin.com/joellesahar