‘Beautiful Thing’: Hijab-Wearing Singer Looks to Inspire

AFP/APP

Dubai: In a Dubai recording studio, hijab-clad Ghaliaa Chaker tunes her guitar and belts out original songs as she builds a career that is turning heads for more than just her music.

The 26-year-old Syrian, raised in the United Arab Emirates, has become a social media sensation, boasting 437,000 followers on Instagram and millions of views on her YouTube channel.

Chaker offers not only a unique sound but also an unusual look in a region where artists who wear the hijab, the head covering characteristic of Muslim women, are few and far between.

“I hope that I have paved the way for other hijabi singers,” Chaker told AFP at the studio. “It is a very beautiful thing to know that you have… given a push to a girl who has many dreams and is unable to achieve them because she has never seen another girl do the same thing.”

Chaker, a keen motorbike rider who is part of an all-hijabi biker squad in Dubai, began composing and writing lyrics at the age of 16. She drew inspiration from Nedaa Shrara, a veiled Jordanian singer who won The Voice, the Arabic version of the popular TV talent show, in 2015.

Shrara stirred controversy among some Arab fans who were unaccustomed to seeing a singer wearing the head covering. But for Chaker, who says she often receives criticism online, Shrara was a symbol of “self-confidence.”

After seeing Shrara, “I said to myself that I can do it too,” Chaker said.