Soprano Zeina Barhoum Joins Seven Circles in Empowering Women through Cooking

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Soprano Zeina Barhoum Joins Seven Circles in Empowering Women through Cooking


Jordanian soprano Zeina Barhoum attended the launch of Empowering Women Through Cooking (EWTC) during a dinner reception organized by Seven Circles on March 24, 2018. The EWTC is a cookbook that was first started as a project to give all women in Jordan a chance to be heard by sharing their inspiring stories and recipes. In addition to cooking recipes, the book includes the stories of fifty four women, who live in Jordan and come from different national backgrounds, religions, socio-economics levels, talents, and struggles.

During the event, a selection of several recipes from the book have been served and a number of panel discussions were held by representatives of Jordan's civil society, public sector, private sector, academia, impact funds, and aid agencies. The book has been curated with the contribution of several entities, including; the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and the Ministry of Tourism in Jordan. The evening's closure witnessed a moving performance by Barhoum along with the group of children who composed "If Music Be The Food of Love" under the auspices of the World Food Programme (WFP), where the CD with the featured song was also officially announced for sale to fundraise for the children's educational future. The group of children has been trained by Zeina in her capacity as their Vocal Coach.

Jebel Amman Publishers has revealed that the book is expected to be soon available in both print and digital format in book stores. Part of the book's proceeds will go to Feeding All organization that proudly supports the WFP and Tkiyet Um Ali, a non-governmental organization and the first of its kind to eradicate hunger in Jordan, to feed people and help in building sustainable solutions until they are able to feed themselves.

Zeina Barhoum is a classically trained soprano and founder of The Alcántara music and art series. Zeina has performed at benefits countless times for the benefit of women, children, peace and prosperity. Among her many invitations to perform, Barhoum was invited to perform at Kensington Palace in celebration of Women achievers, and for bridging cultures through the Arab International Wome's Forum.

Barhoum's album Alcántara refers to the Roman stone arch bridge built in Extremadura, Spain. The title of the album reflects Zeina's dedication to building strong connections of understanding and compassion through her music. Her second album, Alcantara II was recently recorded live and launched in a concert accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lviv and Choir lead by Conductor Lorenzo Tazzieri. Zeina obtained a BSC in Visual Communication at the American University of Sharjah.

Most recently, the Embassy of Ukraine in Jordan has awarded Zeina the Grand Prix, which she had previously won during the 2nd Taras Shevchenko International Singing Competition, where she sang, for the first time, Taras Shevchenko's popular folk song 'The Mighty Dnieper Roars and Bellows' in Arabic and Ukrainian.