We were lucky to catch up with Wed Dawina recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Wed thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

It all started in 2016 when I was going to graduate from high school, but I failed because back at that time my grandma had cancer and that was a huge turn in my life

I was so sad and depressed, and  I was trying for her to stay strong and to keep going, her illness and death had affected me so bad that I got diagnosed with severe depression and I’ve been taking therapy for 5 years now,

I was going to study medicine specifically” psychiatry” because I’ve always wanted to become a therapist especially after what I went through in my life, I wanted to be able to help others around me at the same time I had so much love and passion for music from a very young age, but I never believed that I could become a singer or a musician one day because no one believed in me, and my family always told me that I have a bad voice

So, after graduating high school 2 years later, I decided to tell my family that I don’t want to study medicine anymore and I want to study music .

 of course that was a huge risk in my life, especially that I come from the middle east and a family of doctors , engineers , a family who  served in the Army as colonel and pioneers so to them music is not a career or something to be proud of, they refused and said what a shame I will bring to the family

But despite all of the” No’s “, I decided to apply for college, and I got accepted

 from that moment my musical career has started, I sung in concerts, gigs, acted in theatre plays, performed on big stages, Tv shows, radio interviews, music workshops everything was going great but

the story doesn’t end here , my family always kept threatening me that if I failed they will drop me out of college , so I worked so hard and I succeeded the very first couple of years then i failed again at my 4rth year which was one step ahead from finally graduated due to my mental Health problems and of course, they decided to drop me out and not lend me any money for my education so I started working to be able to pay

Until they decided to give me another chance because they saw how much this means to me and here

 I am still fighting and trying so hard to graduate and become a successful singer and musician

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

WED DAWINA

A Sudanese Singer-Songwriter / Actress / Dancer and musician, based in “Cairo, Egypt ”

Wed’s Love for music and the arts started at a very young age, however, she never had the opportunity to take any music classes as a child. One day, in her high school, she found a mandolin and started playing.   This sparked a light inside of her to start working towards her dream of becoming a musician and a singer.

At 18 years old she started taking guitar and vocal lessons and immediately fell in love with Jazz, Blues, Soul, R&B, and Gospel music.  After graduating high school she decided to study music in the Faculty of Music Education at Helwan University. She majored in classical opera and studied classical piano, while also learning a variety of instruments like the accordion and drums.  Her hunger for music grew and Wed began participating in different music workshops such as The 5th Kodaly workshop in Egypt by the Hungarian Embassy where she studied “solfege.”

In addition, she took Broadway, songwriting and hip-hop classes at the Yes Academy Egypt program by the US Embassy and participated in the AMA Virtual Academy by the US Embassy.  Wed also performed in music festivals such as D-CAF EGYPT for international contemporary arts, performed at The Cairo Opera house, and has appeared as a vocalist in various concerts and events with different bands such as the Bohemian project.

In addition to singing, Wed is also a skillful actress. Her acting career began in college musical theater programs where she played Shenzi in The Lion King musical and then started expanding outside the college theater walls playing Madame Thénardier in the very famous musical Les Misérables at El sawy culture wheel.

She had such a passion for acting, not only on stage but also in front of cameras, so she started auditioning for short films and played Alia in her first short film “Foie Gras,” directed by Mario Ramzy.  The film was widely successful and was nominated in the National Student Films Competition category and won 3rd place in the El Ismailia International Film Festival.

Dawina later landed the starring role of Luna in her second short film “Cycles,” directed by Mariam El Nowihi and z.elrabaa.
This film also went on to be a success, being nominated in many international festivals such as The Lift-off Global Network – First Time Filmmaker Session, the Afrika Film Festival, The Rofife International Film Festival, and The Paus Premiers Festival.

Aside from singing, performing, and acting, Wed also has greatly explored her passion for dancing within contemporary and Latin dance and began hip-hop classes recently to expand her abilities and love for music.   With an unmatched work ethic and drive, Wed will never give up until her goals and dreams are realized.  She is currently working on releasing her own original music and hopes to be an inspiration to young artists everywhere by proving that no matter how hard and hopeless the journey may seem , there is always more to come and you must keep going.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

 That it’s an Everyday job, it’s not always butterflies and birds in the sky, being an Artist is very hard and stressful You meet a lot of obstacles on your way,  Having passion and being creative requires a lot of patience, peace of mind and hard work, needs a lot of resilience. Some days I feel like don’t want to do this anymore, you feel hopeless and that no one is there to listen to your music or art. So, fighting back the pain and the negative thoughts Everyday to pursue your dream takes a lot. Trying to do something different everyday, trying to always shine in the middle of hundreds and millions of others who are doing the same thing you do takes a lot of courage and strength.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

To become who I am today I had to unlearn a lot of things that were holding me back from moving forward

First of all, I went on a journey of finding who I am and on my way there I found out that:

1: I had to love myself first, put myself first, believe in me even when no one does

2: that i matter more than anything i do and i’m worthy of love , success and happiness even when I give nothing in return

I had to unlearn always being the giver and accepting being rewarded

3: stop criticizing, and being the disclaimer to everything I try to do and to stop being  so hard on myself in order to grow

And learn from my past mistakes .

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddawina/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/WedDawinaa
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WedDawina
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5f7Vlslka_NQYQeBzXwTRA

Image Credits
Ibrahim arab Bassem saied Kareem habashy