Kahil Gibran said “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” In today’s polarised world, this is a particularly apt statement, how music is a common language that can unite people from different races, backgrounds and cultures.
Laura and Sarah Ayoub grew up in Glasgow, having emigrated from Egypt with their parents shortly after they were born. They were classically trained on the cello and violin, but it was only in the last two years that the Sisters have been performing as a duo. They were discovered by Mark Ronson after uploading their version of ‘Uptown Funk’ and were invited to record a unique version of the song at the famous Abbey Road Studios, to be performed at the Brit Awards 2016. They made their live television debut performing George Michael’s ‘Mothers Pride’ at the BAFTAs and were recently awarded the prestigious Pride of Scotland Award. This has all led to them signing a record deal with Decca and their debut album included a varied set of tracks including Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ to Johann Strauss.
The Ayoub Sisters’ unique fusion of classical and modern music with a Middle Eastern twist is exciting and invigorating, and appeals to a diverse audience of different ages, backgrounds and cultures with popular songs such as ‘Senorita’ by Justin Timberlake and Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ . The Ayoub Sisters are one of the only acts in the world to play two instruments at the same times through a loop station which was electrifying and gave an extra dimension to the performance. They were joined in the second half by Giulio Romano Malaisi, an Italian guitarist and Daniele Antenucci, an Italian born drummer for a foot tapping performance of well known Middle Eastern Music which had members of the audience asking for an encore.
This diverse mix of music, bringing together different influences from different cultures symbolised the aim of pluralism as epitomised by Mawlana Hazar Imam. He stated how our differences should unite us rather than divide us, in a speech at the Official Opening of the Global Centre of Pluralism, "Pluralism does not mean the elimination of difference, but the embrace of difference. Genuine pluralism understands that diversity does not weaken a society, it strengthens it. In an ever-shrinking, ever more diverse world, a genuine sense of pluralism is the indispensable foundation for human peace and progress."
