Zarema

Zarema
Zarema on set of music video, "Atak"
Background information
Birth name	Zarema Khalılova
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2005-present
Labels	Sony BMG Music Entertainment Turkey, 2007

Zarema is an Turkish-American singer, songwriter and actress of Crimean Tatar descent. She was born while the ethnic Crimean Tatars were in deportation in Uzbekistan, having been expelled from their native lands on the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea as part of the USSR's ethnic cleansing (later recognized by the Ukrainian government in November, 2015 as genocide^[1]). It was not until 1989, after the fall of the USSR that the Crimean Tatars were allowed to return to their homeland of Crimea.

Zarema achieved critical acclaim throughout Europe with her self-titled debut Turkish language album released by Sony BMG Music Entertainment Turkey in 2007. The songs on the album were all written and sung by her. Her music video, "Atak" reached number one music video status on many television channels in Turkey, including Kral TV, Genç TV, Number One TV, and Viva! TV and was the first video in Turkey to ever obtain 400,000 views on Youtube.com.^[2][3][4]

In late 2008, Zarema moved to Los Angeles, California ^[5] and on September 22, 2012 became a United States citizen. She has written many songs in English, a number of which have gotten considerable attention on online Music pools and have been played on numerous American radio stations.

A graduate of the National University of Theatre, Film and Television in Kiev, Ukraine, Zarema has pursued an acting career in the United States, graduating from Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Hollywood and studying under various reputable acting coaches. She became a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) in 2009 and in May 2010 became a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Fluent in Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, and English, Zarema has performed voice-over work on a number of popular movies and television shows, including "Darkest Hour", "Madam Secretary", "Criminal Minds-Beyond Borders", "Castle", "Arrow", and "Covert Affairs".

Early life

Spending her early childhood in Uzbekistan, Zarema was surrounded by a musical family. Her grandparents all had a passion for singing, as did her father, and she and her siblings followed suit. Zarema herself decided at the age of four that she wanted to become a singer and she sang in music contests and school performances at every opportunity.

When Crimean Tatars were allowed to return from deportation, Zarema's family moved to their national homeland of Crimea in the Black Sea, and it was there that she wrote her first lyrics and songs^[6] in the Crimean Tatar language. By the time Zarema was eight years old she was a proficient piano player and at age 9 attended Music College to study violin.

Many of her lyrics were inspired by the tormented Crimean Tatar history, and her patriotism and affinity for her cultural homeland of Crimea. For several years, she was enlisted to read her lyrics at the annual commemorative ceremony at the grave of the legendary Crimean Tatar poet, Eshref Shemyi-zade,^[7] who in 1978 had been laid to rest in a cemetery near her home town.

At age 10, Zarema gave her first radio interview and at age 11 she submitted some of her lyrics to Crimea's biggest newspaper, Dostluk and they were subsequently published in the paper. Shortly thereafter, Zarema was paid a visit by representatives of the newspaper at her family home. It was they who recommended that Zarema attend the Artek Children's Camp in Hurzuf, Crimea and sponsored her attendance there that Summer. Her lyrics were later published in various other Crimean newspapers and magazines.

Throughout her childhood, Zarema herself performed in the community club in her hometown as the lead singer of the band, both for routine performances and for holidays and special occasions. She also routinely organized and produced neighborhood music performances.

At age 13, Zarema produced her first video of her original song, "Ayi-Dag" and it was played on Crimean television station, Крым (National Television and Radio).

Zarema was participating in regional and national music competitions and festivals by age 15^[8] and as a young adult, Zarema moved to Kiev, Ukraine to attend university. Later, she was invited back to Artek to sing her original music, performing in front of the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

Education

Zarema attended the National University of Theatre, Film and TV in Kiev, Cinema and Television and Stella Adler Studio of Acting in Hollywood. She is a qualified violinist.^[9]

Zarema wrote her own lyrics and music for her debut album "Zarema."

She has received media attention in relation to and articles about her have appeared published in literary magazines.

Her songs “Hop Soyle” and “Savas” are popular on radio stations,^[10] music channels and night clubs in many countries. Only after 4 weeks of the release of the song “Hop Soyle” it played, broadcasting^[11] it on different radio^[12] stations, and cities in Europe, Asia, Canada and Israel. Her resume goes on including live performances on various radio stations and National TV channels. This has become a break through of her career and in 2007 she quickly signed a contract Sony BMG Music Entertainment Turkey and soon enough released her self-titled^[13] album, "Zarema"^[14] collaborating with important musicians and arrangers in this album, such as Ozan Colakoglu,^[15] Mustafa Ceceli, Ozgur Buldum^[16] and Mihail Nekrasov.^[17]

Zarema is very well known as the lead singer performing on Eastern-European and Mediterranean stages. In London,^[18] Baku^[19] Moscow^[20] and around the world she successfully held concerts in the world's most famous arenas with a record ticket sales in Baku^[21] with 10,000^[22] spectators and in Moscow's Olimpijskij stadium with spectators way over 20,000.^[23] Her ratings exceeded most popular singers in America and her top songs “Atak”,^[24] “Savash” and “Hop-Soyle” played on popular radio stations around the world. Later same year, Zarema released her debut song with the video clip, produced by Alan Badoev entitled, "Atak" that went straight to leading numbers on radio and music channels and was nominated by many TV channels as the best music video of the year and became a YouTube sensation .^[25]

Zarema relocated to Los Angeles^[26] and began yet another career and her English language album and is due to be released later this year.

References