Kendra: In doing this I am brushing up on a whole lot of geography I missed out on in school. Knowing now that Bahrain is a nation made up of islands, where exactly do you call home and how do the different islands vary from one another?

Ala Ghawas: I was born in Muharraq Island but I live by the northern shore of Bahrain Island in a small village called Barbar, that’s where home is. I think it’s an overstatement to identify Bahrain as bunch on different islands, it’s pretty much one piece of connected land.

Kendra: Now onto the music, what’d you pick up first the guitar or piano?

Ala Ghawas: Piano, any day.

Kendra: Over the years you’ve become quite the local hero. When that happened, when people started to recognize you, were you taken aback at first?

Ala Ghawas: I don’t know much about that. Maybe because I was one of the first independent musicians – from my generation – who recorded original music and put records out, but I didn’t become a recording artist to be perceived as a hero. I’m just obsessed with the possibility of expressing myself through songs.

Ala’s Favorite Place in Bahrain: “It’s my house and it’s called Allston; honoring the small town in the city of Boston where I used to live in 2006 and 2007.”

Kendra: If Bahrain was going to adopt one of your songs as a national anthem of sorts, which would you hope they chose?

Ala Ghawas: A song called “Rebellion.”

Kendra: Lastly, what can fans far and wide expect from you in the musical sense in the coming months?

Ala Ghawas: I’m working on my fifth studio album. It’s called Tryst and it’s due in 2017.

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