Linda George (Assyrian singer)

For other uses, see Linda George (disambiguation).
Linda George
Background information
Birth name Linda Gewargis
Born 1960
Baghdad, Iraq
Origin Chicago, USA
Genres Assyrian pop, dance-pop, folk
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1980–present
Website Official Linda George site

Linda George (born 1960) is an ethnic Assyrian-American singer. The vast majority of her songs are sung in her native Assyrian language, though a few are in English and Arabic. Unlike many other comparative Assyrian artists, George has dabbled with Western genres such as R&B, urban and electronic dance music in her 30-year career.

George is one of the most well-known and ubiquitous Assyrian singers, having toured the continents of Oceania, Europe and Asia. Furthermore, she is the most liked Assyrian figure on Facebook.[1]

Biography

Linda has been singing since she was a little girl: her career began at the tender age of five. She was the church choir soloist in Baghdad, where she appeared on national television. George's career started in the Assyrian community in Chicago discovered by Assyrian singer Sargon Gabriel. Sargon featured Linda on his track "Dalaleh". The track became a popular record in the Assyrian community and helped George land her own album. George's first album, Hal Eiman, was released in 1983 and instantly was a success. George continued her success into the early 1990s, and became the first Assyrian singer to use contemporary beats with traditional Assyrian singing.[2]

After dabbling with different beats and contemporary mixes on her three previous albums, George changed the way of Assyrian Music on her seventh Album, "Khamra Teeka" released in 1993. The album, featuring the song "Matlab D'Libba", featured the first rapping in Assyrian Music. The song, dubbed the "Chapeh Chapeh Song" became successful. The albums' other standout track however was "Barwar". The song was released after the Gulf War and after the region of Barwari in Northern Iraq was bombed and left in shambles.

In the mid to late 1990s, George released two albums. Her last studio album of the decade was 1995's "Khoot Goolpane't Malakha". The album contained a little bit of everything that Linda's previous albums featured, such as traditional music, upbeat contemporary beats, ballads and dance hits. On April 2001, in the Assyrian New Year, she made her historical tour to Northern Iraq, where she was welcomed by over 20,000 Assyrian fans. In 2005, after Saddam Hussein was dethroned as the leader of Iraq, Linda released "I am Free", a CD sung in Arabic with four songs. The lead single, "Ana Hurra" was released worldwide as an anthem for the newly liberated Iraq.

As she toured to Australia for the 22nd time in 2010, she was able to finish videotaping one of her hits on this album, "Madeleey", which was filmed in Clovelly, New South Wales. Linda George currently resides in Chicago.

Discography

References

  1. "Linda George". assyriancafe.com. Retrieved January 2011. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  2. "Linda George". Qeenatha.com.
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