Extract

Kalamesque is a group made up of Jordanian musicians, and they’re adapting Western pop music into classical Arabic songs.

Ayyoub Tam is a member and founder of the musical group. He speaks seven languages, and it was his passion for his mother tongue, Arabic, which inspired him to establish the organization.

Despite some 420 million Arabic speakers worldwide, he believes the use of classical Arabic in pop music is declining.

He hopes to highlight the language in his band and restore the youth’s faith in Arabic.

“What makes the Arabic language important in the music industry is its own musicality, the rhythms, the rhymes, the flow, sometimes it feels like its sung without even a melody to it,” says the musician