Haifa Kamal (Jordan)
Updated: Sep 25
Haifa Kamal is a Jordanian singer and producer of Palestinian origin who began studying singing as a child under her father, composer Kamal Khalil. She performed with numerous ensembles including Baladna, Rum, Razz, the National Music Conservatory Orchestra, and Amman Symphonita. Kamal earned a mathematics degree from Zarqa University before completing formal studies in Arabic singing at Jordan’s National Music Conservatory in 2011. Rather than follow a fixed commercial formula, Kamal has built her career around independent production, treating each project as a space to explore a different musical identity, moving between Arabic pop, electronic music, orchestral arrangements, and global flavors such as flamenco, notably on the 2021 mini-album A Córdoba with Spanish ensemble Obaider, which earned two Global Music Awards. Central to her work is a commitment to Levantine and Palestinian heritage as living material, reinterpreted for new audiences rather than preserved as museum pieces.
Featured Songs:
“Ghanna El Hadi” (The Guide Sang), featured on Putumayo's Party Around the World, reinterprets a traditional Palestinian folk melody, with new lyrics by Hassan Soltan and arrangement by Rami Rais, continuing Kamal’s project of reviving Palestinian folk songs. The song follows a traveler carrying messages of memory and homeland to Palestine and Jerusalem. “The story of this homeland never dies, my children’s children will carry it / You who are going to Palestine, take a message from me / Pass through the Damascus Gate and know the history of generations.”
“Denya” (Life) was composed and produced by Alaa Wardi with lyrics by Yazan Rousan. The Café Arabica song is a meditation on life’s uncertainty and the value of persistence despite setbacks. “Turns out, it’s life, our whole story is in it / We choose a path we walk / Sometimes the same words, and sometimes there’s no place for us / If we don’t arrive once, a hundred times more / What’s the harm in trying again.”
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