Jazz singer Rouba Zeidan just couldn’t turn her back on recording

The Dubai-based jazz singer Rouba Zeidan talks about finally releasing her debut album and a future of solo gigs without cover songs.

Rouba performing in Abu Dhabi in 2012. Duncan Chard for the National

It has been a long time coming. Rouba Zeidan, known by her stage name Rouba, had initially built a career as an in-demand jazz singer, performing covers and standards in the region's biggest hotels. After giving up singing to enter the corporate world, her first passion drove her back to the studio recently to create her debut album Mama's Back. With the regional music industry buzzing at the release, the 38-year-old says there is plenty to come from her reactivated career.

Congratulations on Mama’s Back. Word has been spreading in local music circles on how good it is. Are you happy with the response so far?

Very happy. And I have been getting some good feedback from industry people. They were impressed at the quality considering it was my first album. I have been singing covers my entire life, so this album of all original songs is a major shift for me. It has been five years I have been working on this project; luckily I was introduced to some amazing producers who I worked with in Los Angeles, which I think helped elevate the standard of the album altogether.

Are you already sick of the songs, considering the album took five years to make?

I still listen to the songs sometimes when I am driving. The difficulty is that I feel I am still too close to them. I listen to them and I listen to the layering and I wonder sometimes how we could have made the songs even better. I hope to one day listen to the songs without that distance and just enjoy them. But I am definitely not bored of them.

Although it's officially your debut album, the title Mama's Back hints that it is actually a musical comeback for you. You spent five years working in the corporate world – what made you come back?

I am Lebanese and being a singer – especially one who sings in Arabic – is generally a tough industry to get into, and you don’t get much support from society. So I initially shied away because I didn’t have the guts to fully pursue it.

The turning point for me came a few years ago when I was going through that phase in my life where you ask yourself those existential questions: “Am I happy with my life? I am having an amazing career with a multinational company but why am I not happy or content?”

In the midst of the search I considered every option except music – from opening a gym to travelling – but once all the noise subsided, that’s when I heard internally that music was for me. I had to come back and take it seriously.

Does that explain your decision to release original material?

Absolutely. I didn’t want to perform [cover] songs in clubs and parties all my life. A friend of mine kept telling me I can’t be considered an artist if I am just singing covers. That definitely hit a sensitive spot for me and I realised that something has to change. I either give it a 100 per cent or none at all. I didn’t want to be a person sitting on a table at the age of 50 and people would say: “Hey Rouba, sing a song for us because you have a gorgeous voice and you didn’t do anything with it.”

That said, people can also see you performing totally reworked versions of western classics as part of Music Hall Dubai’s weekend shows?

That’s right and it’s the only exception to my rule. I am presently singing big ballads but the orchestration and arrangement are so different. [The Beirut Music Hall founder] Michel Elefteriades sat down and crafted each part of the song and it sounds amazing. People will recognise the song but not in the way they expect.

• Mama’s Back is out now. Rouba will perform on Thursday and Friday at Music Hall Dubai, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel, The Palm Jumeirah. Visit www.rouba.org