Singer Rita Davoud back to perform at Mesopotamian Night

At last years Mesopotamian Night, singer Rita Toma Davoud was a surprising pick to perform at the event since she was not as known or established as the other singers. However, our beloved singer Walter Aziz, knew something that many of us didn’t and he picked her alongside four other singers. Man oh man what a great choice that was. Rita was well prepared and performed flawlessly. When Walter asked her on the stage on who was her singing inspiration when she was growing up, Rita told the audience that she admires many famous Assyrian singers but the one that gets her highest regards would be the late Shamiram Urshan. Ironically, We’ve decided to honor the great legend this year so we were delighted to invite Rita back again to perform the songs of her childhood idol at the 6th Annual Mesopotamian Night on June 15, 2013 at the California Theatre in San Jose, CA.  

 

Rita Toma Davoud (Albazi) Biography:

Rita was born in Duhok, Iraq, however her family decided to leave the country and head to Turkey when she was at a young age of four. In 1998, the family was yet taking another journey, making Michigan its new home. At an early age, Rita discovered her passion for singing, and thus would perform on occasions for family and friends.

The year 2006 marked the most defining moment of Rita’s life when she participated in the first ever “Assyrian Superstar,” an “American Idol”-like competition held in Chicago. That was when music enthusiasts discovered her charming voice, earning the highest praise from the judges and the loudest support from the audience, so it was only natural to crown her as the first ever winner of that competition. At the award ceremony, Rita was so thrilled and at the same time humbled when she told the crowd “Oh, my God, it was unbelievable. It has always been my dream to become a singing star, and in that moment, my dream came true.”

Soon thereafter, she began the recording of her first album, choosing the highly respected Assyrian musician, Mr. Sanharib Ashure, who at the time still lived in the motherland Assyria (Iraq), to arrange the music of her songs.  It was also important for Rita to have her music performed by Assyrians in her homeland to give it that native warmth.  In 2008, the album “Gashaqtet Khoba.” was released. The distinguished writer Helen Talia was impressed by the album and wrote in a review “I feel that in given time and with enough performance maturity, our beloved Rita can accomplish great musical heights. She most certainly has the vocal charm and softness to be adorned as Assyria’s Ambassador of Peace.”

Rita’s good fortunes continued, during a visit to Australia in 2011, the famous Assyrian film movie Director, John Homeh, offered her to record a video clip from her album for the song “Shmi Jwanqa.” However, the most cherished experience in Rita’s singing career came when musical giant Walter Aziz contacted her to take center stage at the “Mesopotamian Night,” an Assyrian Aid Society of America project. The rare and historical project was going on its fifth year and has been attracting the attention of many artists, musicians and audience; a challenging setting for a singer to perform live with a 50-piece orchestra. Rita’s task was to perform three newly orchestrated classical Assyrian songs from the seventies of the legendary composer Vania David and lyricist Misha Ashoorian. Four singers alongside Rita have performed superbly to the sold out crowd and made it a night that would be remembered for ages.

Aside from all the musical success, Rita also made time to start a family and an accomplished professional career. In 2007, she happily wedded Mr. Fadi AlBazi and together they began a life journey in the valley of the sun – Arizona. Soon thereafter, they were blessed with two children, Emma and Emmanuel. Most recently, Rita has joined the medical profession, as a Dental Hygienist and is only one year short of earning her diploma in Dentistry.

We congratulate Rita and wish her much success in her future endeavors.

Written by: Sargon Alkurge for mesopotamian-night.org  2/12/2013. 
                                                          My gratitude to Helen Talia for her help