DAILY "DID YOU KNOW?" ARCHIVES
Omar and his team thought it would be fun to start a new section on the News Page that shared fun trivia with fans about his music, his bandmates, past concerts, and of course Omar himself!

DDYK for Monday, September 21, 2009:
Did you know that although Omar's newest lyrical material features him as a lead vocalist, that he originally preferred to use female singers to bring his lyrics to life?. Many fans who had bought his original "FOREVER RED" and "EXPERIENCE" (a.k.a. "FOREVER RED: DELUXE EDITION") albums were confused because the voices on certain pieces were definitely female even though Omar was billed as the lead artist! "At the time of recording the first album, my voice hadn't really developed into what it is now, and I think that there is always room for it to grow. Still, I knew that there was much more to say on certain songs than could be said with just instruments and at the time, I preferred to just play the violin and sing only on the title track - Forever Red - so I brought my new friend Karma Stewart into the studio in late 2004 to try out some vocals on a song called Love Someone and she and I ended up doing some great harmonies although she definitely was the focal point and the soul of the song. However, I really felt that her best work was on Reasons for Living because it's such a heartfelt song and even though it was sort of a duet, that song is distinctly Karma! I remember it like it was yesterday - she only had to do two takes in the iso-booth and she just nailed it!" Karma moved to Los Angeles to study at the Hollywood School of Music in 2006 and subsequently launched a successful worldwide indie solo career - visit her MUSIC MYSPACE for more information.

As Omar's voice began to develop further, he began trying out his chops on new songs like "Full Circle" for his second album, but he knew that something extra was needed for the song to pack the necessary punch at its grand climax. "That song was more gospel than anything I'd ever done before, and by the time we recorded it, Karma had already moved out to LA, so I brought in a new voice with Kelley Glover, who is a classically-trained singer. She said she hadn't really done gospel, soul, or R&B before, but in hearing what she did, you wouldn't know it. Kelley's voice is such an important part of that piece, because she is full of this happy and bright spirit and it really shows in her singing. She takes it through the roof!" Kelley is a private voice instructor in the Central Texas area and will continue to be a part of Omar's live band lineup into the 2009/2010 concert season, while her new childrens' television show with a focus on music education - "YOU BETTER SING!" - is in development.

Finally, Omar decided to add lyrics to an older instrumental song, "De la Luna", which he had written for his mother Mary, and he knew that only one voice could do what was needed - the voice of then 14-year-old Georgia Napolitano. It took on new meaning with the lyrics he penned with Georgia's mother and manager, Tina, and took on a new name - "Heart of the Moon". "I love that song because there are two parallels going here - the melody that I play for my own mother, and the lyrics which Georgia sings for hers. It's about not being afraid to be apart from your mother, because that same moon which is over your head in night sky is the same one that your mom is looking at. It's a song about coming-of-age and yet remembering where you came from, and even at such a young age, Georgia had such a maturity and conviction about her that it was fitting for her to perform this song." Speaking of coming-of-age, Georgia has since broken out on her own as a groundbreaking pop-rock solo artist with a powerful voice and a heart for various causes (such as Teens4Autism and the Make a Change campaign) - visit her OFFICIAL WEBSITE for more information.

DDYK for Monday, August 17, 2009:
Did you know that Omar and cellist Jennifer Mulhern have known each other for over ten years? "We went to college together," Omar explains. "We were going to Southwest Texas State University back in 1998 (it's now is just called Texas State University) and both of us were in the symphony orchestra. This was back when I was still playing viola, but when I left college to try playing music as a full-time career rather than going to school for a degree in music education, I didn't see Jen for a few years, but I always knew that I wanted to play music with her again someday. I ran into her a few years later at a club and I remembered how much fun she and I had. We have very similar playing styles and we both pick up songs and melodies just by hearing them without sheet music. Our personalities are similar as well - we both like to be goofy and we understand each others' sense of humor. We're really spontaneous and just say things that come off the top of our heads. Anyway, in 2003, I was playing in a band called Matson Belle and the lead singer asked me if I knew any "celloists" (I had to correct her and tell her that the word was "cellist") that could help fill out the live sound, and it just so happened that I had just seen Jen at that nightclub the previous weekend while out with friends, so I called her and was like 'Hey, I'm in this band right now and it's electronic-pop music and it's really fun... you should come try out!' Well, she didn't even have to try out! She sat in for one gig after having the CD for only a few days and joined the band right after that. We really did have a lot of fun, and she ended up staying in Matson Belle after I left to focus on working on my first solo record, which ended up becoming 'FOREVER RED', which Jennifer played on in the studio. She then joined my own live band and was in it for over three years, and even though she went off to work with her own new band, Ear to Anon (with drummer Jason Traweek), I know that we'll play together again - probably very soon!" Omar and Jen haven't just played in bands together. For a time, they also formed the "Arco Iris Duo" and played in coffeeshops and martini lounges, as well as weddings and private parties, and a lot of Omar's first fans remember him not for "FOREVER RED", but for his exciting and innovative duets with cellist Jennifer Mulhern, which is a compliment to the way they feed off of each others' styles and personalities. You can find her online at her OFFICIAL WEBSITE or her band's MUSIC MYSPACE.

DDYK for Friday, August 14, 2009:
Did you know that Omar has never had a professional voice lesson? "I did musicals in school and I used to sing in the youth choir at church, and I even used to sing with the radio in the car, trying to emulate the singers of the 80s and 90s, but when I started writing music, originally I wanted it to be all instrumental since at the time, back in 2000, I was listening to a lot of new age and classical crossover artists like Yanni, bond, and Vanessa-Mae, hence the pop-classical or symphonic-rock influence in my oldest compositions - hey, Dawn is almost ten years old! Anyway, it wasn't until the months while I was working on 'FOREVER RED' that I realized that I wanted to hear voices on some of my songs, and originally most of the songs on that album were instrumentals until my producer (Adam Whaley) and I added lyrics - the first song with lyrics was Reasons for Living - and started looking for singers. We found an amazing female vocalist to be more of a lead voice - Karma Stewart, who I still keep up with even though she's in California now - but there weren't many good male vocalists in my area who could sing what I wanted to hear - a soulful, R&B-style sound like that of Stevie Wonder with a bit of edge like George Michael - so I gave it a shot and now here I am, five years later, singing all the leads. It's weird! Even though I'm primarily a violinist, I have had experiences where I go see an concert and it's all instrumentals, and if the show itself is over an hour and a half without anything to break the monotony and give it something different, I actually start to get a little bored. Vocals add a different dimension and texture to any kind of music, even without lyrics, so I'm thankful for the blessing of being able to use my own voice as a form of self-expression aside from playing the violin. My fans will get to hear this even more on my new album, 'MIRRORS AND MEMORIES'."

DDYK for Thursday, August 13, 2009:
Did you know that Omar is also an aspiring science fiction/fantasy writer? He was inspired by L. Frank Baum (the Oz books) and C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) in his earlier years and wrote a series of as-yet-unpublished childrens' novels, "The Books of Gangy". Gangy was a magical land ruled by a boy king and the adventure stories taught lessons about friendship, perseverance, and believing in your dreams - themes which later resurfaced in his music. With Omar's later interest in Japanese Super Sentai and anime, he has been working on a series for kids and teens called "Zodiac Force Cyberstars", which tells the story of several young teenagers who are equipped with super-powers from the Zodiac. He plans to create a new website for the series in the near future, and eventually re-write the series as a screenplay.

DDYK for Thursday, July 16, 2009:
Did you know that Omar was named after the famous actor Omar Sharif? Thank Omar's mother, Mary, for that one. From the Wikipedia entry: "Omar Sharif (born Michael Demitri Shalhoub[1]; Arabic: عمر الشريف; April 10, 1932) is an Egyptian actor who has starred in many Hollywood films. He is most famous for his roles in Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia. Sharif has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won a Golden Globe."