Jean Riachi

Jean-Marie Riachi (born May 24, 1970 in Ras Baalbek, Bekaa) is a Lebanese arranger, composer and record producer. Riachi grew up in a non-musical family, however his passion and talent in music was obvious when he started playing the keyboard at the age of eight. In 1988, at 18 years of age, he participated in "Studio el Fan", a Lebanese talent show, where he performed as a keyboard player. He was attending USEK University faculty of fine art at the time.

He began his music career performing in local bars and clubs. He then achieved success in the nightlife and restaurant industries as partnering manager of a number of establishments, including "Mandaloun sur mer", a highly-prominent seafood restaurant in Beirut.

Riachi launched his musical production and composing career in 1999 when he produced his first "hit", "Baddi Doub". It was performed by Elissa, a Lebanese singer.

In 2001 he established the Jean Marie Audio Productions studio in Rabieh. He then created his own label, "OMP" (Oriental Music Publishing), the following year."OMP" is the first established publishing company in the Middle East and inside a year it had secured a prominent status in the publishing world, attracting many international music companies, including BMG Music.

Jean-Marie's music recordings continued when he began producing songs for the soundtrack of the documentary movie "Les Cendres du Phoenix". He also produced the theme song "Nour El Shams" by Pascale Machaalani, for the Hollywood movie "Spy Game". He has also produced tracks used in television advertisements for various companies, including Pepsi.

In 2006, he arranged and mixed "Light the Way," that Jose Carreras and Majida El Roumi performed at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

Awards

*(2006) Murex D’or for best song: "Habbaytak ana", performed by Ramy Ayach

*(2003) Murex D’or for best song: "Ayshalak", performed by Elissa
*(2004) World Music Awards: "Ma Trouhsh Beid", performed by Latifa
*(2005) World Music Awards, best-selling album in Lebanon and North Africa: "Ahla Donya", Elissa album

Discography

Throughout his career Jean-Marie has produced, composed or arranged musical works for top artists of the Arab World including:

Majida El-Roumy Elissa Nawal El-Zoughbi Assi Hellani Amal Hijazi Rami Ayach Yuri Mrakadi Dania Madeleine Matar Myriam Fares Fella Pascale Mechalani Wadih Mrad Anoushka Hani El Omari Ragheb Alemeh Latifa Walid Toufik Zein El-Omor Hisham Abbas Laura El-Khalil Ghassan Saliba Carole Samaha Nancy Ajram

External links

* [http://www.jeanmarieriachi.com Jean-Marie Riachi's official website]
* [http://www.ompweb.com.com Oriental Music Publishing]

References

* Jean-Marie Riachi's official website
* Jean-Marie Riachi's press releases
* Jean-Marie Riachi himself