Layal Watfeh (born February 14, 1980) is a Syrian composer, musician, and voice actor. Watfeh's work primarily consists of original
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
for commercials, television, and film. Over two decades of work, Watfeh has won numerous international awards for her voice acting and original scores for television and film. Her style incorporates symphonic, orchestral tones as well as traditional Arab sounds. She has worked with major companies composing commercial music, including past clients such as
Olay
Olay, previously Oil of Olay, Oil of Olaz, Oil of Ulan or Oil of Ulay, is an American skin care brand owned by Procter & Gamble. For the 2009 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, Olay accounted for an estimated $2.8 billion of P&G's revenue.
Ear ...
,
T.G.I. Friday's
TGI Fridays (operating in the UK as FRIDAYS) is an American restaurant chain focusing on primarily American cuisine and casual dining. The restaurant's founder said the name stood for "Thank God It's Friday", although some television commercial ...
, and
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and coffeehouse chain.
Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), who bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans c ...
. Besides recording music, she has also been a voice on many TV networks across the Middle East, such as MBC2, MBC4, OSN, Abu Dhabi TV, DMTV. Watfeh currently lives in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
.
Early life
Watfeh was born in
Damascus, Syria
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
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, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
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, ...
, where she began exploring her interest in music at a young age. She entered the music conservatoire in Damascus to learn the violin at nine years old.,
though later that year moved to Dubai with her family. At 11, she turned her attention to the piano for two years, and by 17 Watfeh was recording voice-overs for TV and radio commercials. After working in numerous music studios in Dubai, Watfeh began composing original music.
Career
Watfeh's career in music began in 2002 when
MBC Group
MBC Group ( ar, مجموعة إم بي سي), is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Middle East and North Africa region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved to its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 then moved to Riyadh in 2022.
MBC ...
offered her a job as a post-production
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
,
sound designer
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
, and music composer.
Watfeh accepted the job, and after six years she was named the senior manager of her branch. Meanwhile, Watfeh was active in the music industry as she sang the lead vocals with Abali on their album "Lemonad
in 2004.
Watfeh left MBC in 2009 to create her own studio and begin composing music. She was drawn to a variety of media, including advertisements, TV series, documentaries,
short films
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
, and feature films, and she found work across the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and the UK. Watfeh was invited to
Berlinale Talents
Berlinale Talents, formerly Berlinale Talent Campus, is the talent development programme of the Berlin International Film Festival (also called Berlinale). An annual summit and networking platform for 200 outstanding creatives from the fields of f ...
2014 in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
, Germany; she was one of approximately 300 invitees that year
In 2016, Watfeh signed a contract with scoreAscore in Los Angeles as a composer, where she has been writing scores for various American companies.
Awards
Television and filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watfeh, Layal
Living people
1980 births
Syrian composers
Women composers
Syrian voice actresses