Biografía de Omar Afuni

My name is Omar Afuni and my dream is to become one of the world’s biggest music superstars.

I was born in Kuwait on June 13th. 1985. I am half-Jordanian, half-Lebanese with Turkish origins. I grew up in Kuwait the first 5 years of my life until Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and my parents made the decision to move to Jordan. My parents’ relationship wasn’t strong to begin with, but it really deteriorated during our time in Jordan. The money my parents had saved for years in Kuwait was gone, it was starting from scratch in a new country, finding new jobs, a home, a school for me and my brother and so many more responsibilities. My parents separated for a few years when my dad went back to Kuwait to work after its independence. I lived with my mother and my brother for 5 years and I can honestly say that even though we lived a rough life, they were the happiest of my life. My mom always made sure we got the best of everything working non-stop and devoting all of her money, time and effort to her kids. She’s definitely my hero. Due to certain circumstances and a lot of drama, my parents ended up getting a divorce in 1993.

While all of this was happening, I had developed a love for music. My grandmother said that when I was a baby, I would be tucked in bed with my arms under the cover and she would sang me lullabies to go to sleep. Instead of falling asleep, I would toothless-ly grin with this excited glazy look in my eyes and throw my chubby baby arms in the air in a rhythmic motion while she sang. I was 5 years old when my mother noticed I could play any song I heard on my Casio toy keyboard by ear. A year later, a professional Yamaha keyboard was bought for me by my uncle. That was when I discovered I had some musical talent. I remember watching old music videos of the late 80’s/early 90’s and thinking that what those singers were doing was so neat and I loved music so much I wanted it to be my whole world. I knew I wanted to do what those singers did and decided to be a singer myself.

I remember my 8th birthday party that my mom threw for me, I invited friends from school and family was there. My parents were still together back then… the guy who was in charge of all the kids games took a break between one of the games to have a little chit-chat with the birthday boy… he said “So Omar, you’re 8 today, what do you wanna be when you grow up and become a man?” without the slightest thought I replied “a singer.” I remember EVERYBODY literally laughing at me. The guy asked again “well, no, music’s a hobby, what do you want your job to be?” I replied again “a singer.” Again, I got the same reaction from everyone there… he asked me what my dad does for a living and I told him… “Well, don’t you want to grow up to be a dentist like your father?” The reply was again “No, I want to be a SINGER.”

That 8-year-old with all the stubbornness and ambition in the world is still alive in me today and saying “No, I want to be a SINGER” 17 years later. It’s the one thing I’ve always wanted to be.

In 1995, after my parents’ divorce, I had to move from Jordan and the musically-rich life my mom enjoys to a creativity-murdering life in Kuwait with my father. At the age of 11, I discovered Elton John, George Michael & Stevie Wonder (who I believe is the most genius male vocalist ever) and I loved what they did. I had my instrument in my voice and I had my favorite artists as vocal coaches. At the time, I didn’t even know I could sing, I just knew that I loved it. It gave me a sense of freedom and serenity. That’s where this entire journey began.

For years and years I would listen to all kinds of vocalists and learn from their techniques, with major influences being Stevie Wonder, George Michael, Elton John & Brian McKnight from the males and Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey & Christina Aguilera from the females. Minor influences were Robbie Williams, Michael Buble, Alanis Morissette among many countless others. I tried to take the best of every one of those artists and mix it in with my own flavor. The result of continuous singing and practicing is what you hear in my voice today.

By the age of 14, I had written and recorded my first song ‘Don’t Want You Anymore’. I remember using sample loops from Acid to create the music and recording my vocals on the very basic wave sound recorder that used to come as an accessory in Windows ‘98. Of course, the quality wasn’t great, but it was a huge step for me and I felt like it was a great achievement at the time. I kept writing songs as I grew up, this made my songwriting skills go to new lengths.

During my last year in high school, I fell in a depression because I knew I wanted music to be my career. It’s what I loved, it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. Before I go on with my story, I should mention that the Middle East is a very dry place when it comes to any kind of art. Art is not taken seriously. It is a known fact that people who choose music as a career in the Middle East commit social and financial suicide. They’re even looked down on by society and referred to as “stupid” or “uneducated”. To be “smart” and “educated” means being an Engineer or a Doctor. In some countries, you get arrested for singing in public. I remember spending weeks after weeks crying my eyes out because I wanted to sing and I felt like I had no way out. No one took my dream seriously except me.

When I was 18 I graduated from high school and became a university student. After explaining my situation to my mother, she told me that in order to get out of the Middle East, I had to study something that was highly required in the Western world and that that would be my ticket out of here and into a world where my musical talents could be appreciated. After some research, I found out that IT and Electrical Engineering were two of the most required majors so I decided to study one of them. My father, however, had other plans for me. My uncle owns a construction company in Kuwait and he’s doing really well, my dad wanted the same future for me. When I revealed that I had signed up to study Electrical Engineering my dad threw a fit and told me he wasn’t gonna send me to university at all if I didn’t study Civil Engineering. Of course, I had to say yes because I had no other choice. I can’t just get a job and study at the same time, things are not that simple in the Middle East. You have to have some sort of college degree if you want to work as ANYTHING. Plus, the university fees were – and still are - impossibly high and no job would have paid me enough money to finance myself at such a young age and zero experience.

I ended up traveling to Jordan where I enrolled in a university. I studied Civil Engineering and even though I was top of my class for the 4 and a half years I spent in university, my love for music remained and even became stronger. During my time in university, I joined a 10-week singing competition called ‘Karaoke World Championship’. I won the competition and I was supposed to represent Jordan in the world finals in Finland, but I wasn’t able to attend because I was declined a visa. The runner-up ended up going, he had British citizenship. I also performed at several places and events that led me to meet a current friend of mine who believed in me and my talent. He introduced me to a local DJ who I ended up collaborating with on a song called ‘Might Have Said Goodbye (Rainy Days)’. I wrote and composed the track, he produced it. It was aired on a local radio station in Jordan and the feedback was positive, but it wasn’t strong enough due to lack of promotion. Even though I was featured in a couple of local magazines, very few people knew the face behind the voice.

I worked with the same DJ on another song called ‘Separate Ways’, but due to difference of opinions and musical directions, the song ended up being weak and was not aired or released anywhere. My problem was that the production of the DJ had no musicality to it; it was mainly chopping up loops and samples he’d already created and me writing lyrics to match. I didn’t like that because I had no freedom to change chords, the production was weak, there was no climax. Verses sounded like choruses. The formula just didn’t work for me. Ironically, after that song we both went our “separate ways”.

After graduation, I came back to Kuwait and started my career in Civil Engineering unwillingly working at my uncle’s construction company – exactly what my dad wanted. Again, I was forced to do this because I had no other source of financial income. Facing the reality of a Civil Engineer’s job at a construction site, I – once again – fell in an even deeper depression. Studying it is one thing, but working as it is a whole other story. The working hours are cruel, I work 9 hours a day (7 to 4 – sometimes more when we have to cast concrete) 6 stressful days a week at a construction site under Kuwait’s scorching sun, the temperature here reaches 122+ F° (50 C°) in the summer, you’d think the pay would be worth it at least, but it’s not. I’ve been doing this for 3 years now. Most days, I just look around and think to myself: ‘What the FUCK am I doing here? This is NOT where I belong.’

During my 3 years as a Civil Engineer, I struggled to find room to breathe. I kept writing songs, I wrote about 30 songs during this time. In 2008, I auditioned for a show in the Middle East called Star Academy. I didn’t get in because I didn’t sing in Arabic. In 2009, I sent a recording to a show called ‘Got Talent’ which is a spin-off of Britain’s Got Talent. I never heard back from them. I tried immigrating to another country outside of the Middle East, but my major wasn’t required. I tried contacting studios/producers in Kuwait with no result.

In November 2009, I turned to my mother for help. I told her that I needed to buy some home recording equipment to work on original music. I needed material to back me up. As always, she came through for me and helped me buy the equipment I needed. I had no clue how to operate on the equipment. Before buying it, I did my research online watching tutorial videos and reading articles at music websites to get a clear idea of how everything runs. I started learning how to produce music after buying the equipment.

Currently, I am still a Civil Engineer, but I’m also working on my music. I came to the conclusion that in order to succeed I needed to depend on myself completely and no one else. As of now, I’m not just a singer. I’m a singer/songwriter/composer/producer.

Fuente: alexisbello a través de Musica.com