“Reem Kelani is an artist who puts her soul, her emotions and her whole being into her music … Even in her happiest songs, her music is reminiscent of the lamentations of Palestinian women”
Aksiyon, Turkey, 20 June 2005
Tuba Özden
Translated from Turkish

“Her performance at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall entranced her audience. Kelani entertained her audience with jokes in Turkish, Arabic and English”
MHA Mesopotamian News Agency Turkey, June 2005 Translated from Turkish

"She has one of the most startling ranges and phrasing ability coiled up in her throat... Reem treats music as both an historical and sociological journey."
Slough & Windsor Express (WOMAD review), 29 July 2004
Geoff Cowart

"The most compelling voice throughout the series was, of course, that of Scheherazade herself, etherially present in spellbinding extracts beautifully read by Reem Kelani."
The Times Literary Supplement, June 4 2004
Jane Jakeman
(from a review of A Thousand And One, BBC Radio 4)

"Rarely has the entire tragedy of a people been condensed into artful melodrama by such a powerful and stirring voice. Her range extends from the deepest lows to the brightest highs, in between which she launches herself unselfconsciously into unending notes, enriching melodies with slides and glissandos."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany, May 2003
Norbert Krampf
Translated from German

"She doesn’t sing the music, but lives it with her whole body and soul. The sheer emotional power of it hits you right in the solar plexus, but it’s totally controlled – she can switch instantly from anger to laughter, from grief to celebration."
Oxford Times, May 2003
Roger van Schaick

"The most incredible vocalist this reviewer has ever come across. The small Kelani overwhelmed the whole concert hall with her powerful voice and her tremendous charisma."
Dilettant.no, Norway, 13 April 2003
Øyvind Strømmen
Translated from Norwegian

"…Reem Kelani's voice will make the hairs on your neck stand up."
Jazz UK, March/ April 2003
Pete Martin

"…extraordinary Palestinian singer ….Kelani's searing sustained sound, spiralling off into a chilling high warble, opens the set against deep bowed double-bass drones…"
The Guardian , 28 February 2003
John Fordham

"Her voice is holy, strong and seductive, like a call to prayer."
Evening Standard, 27 February 2003
Mark Espiner

"Reem Kelani is a national treasure of talent, art and a deep sense of belonging."
Al-Quds (London) & Al-Ayyaam (Ramallah),26 February 2003
Rashad Abou-Shawar
Translated from Arabic

"An extraordinary musical map of Palestine emerges from her work, more vibrant than any historical document."
The Guardian, 25 February 2003
Jo Glanville

"Kelani's voice is a technical marvel, capable of transforming deeply felt emotion into a range of pulverising hollers and keening wails."
The Guardian, 14 February 2003
James Griffiths

"Palestinian singer Reem Kelani (the presenter of Radio 4's Distant Chords) is an able conduit for a vocal tradition that's one of the globe's most expressive. Her rising and falling declamations are imbued with a natural theatricality that invariably provokes a spine-tingling reaction."
The Birmingham Post, 27 January 2003
Marin Longley

"Her beautiful voice carries the characteristics of a people and the identity of a nation. It has vitality, culture and hope."
Al-Ahram, Egypt, August 2002
Yosry Hussein
Translated from Arabic

"Reem's singing at the candle-lit vigil showed the importance of music as a means of directly making contact between cultures and in expressing the Palestinians' identity and history."
Saudi Gazette, 27 May 2002
Susannah Tarbush

"We did not have to stretch our imaginations too far to join Kelani in the refugee camps of South Lebanon. She performed a scintillating set of songs of plaintive mourning and tunes of defiant resistance. Singing laments for the 'big mamas', ... her emotive, unaccompanied voice sent tingles down the spine."
Business A.M., Scotland, 13 June 2001
Mark Brown

"Reem Kelani is Palestininian but her vocal style seems to effortlessly transcend any boundaries. There's the heavenly swoopes and soars of the Pakistani Sufi singer, the mournful roar of a Yiddish crooner, the bluesy wail of a Jewish cantor, those melismatic glides of the Arabic griot - it's all there in every song she sings."
Time Out, London, March/April 2001
John Lewis

"One of the finest and most popular singers in the Palestinian world."
Athens News, Athens, Greece, 15 February 2000

"She has great vitality, sharp intelligence and definite talent."
Al-Quds, London, 18 May 1999
Husam Ed-Dine Muhammad
Translated from Arabic

"Her audience at Places des Arts witnessed the birth of a great Arab artist who will play a pivotal role in the future."
Al-Mir'ah, Montreal, Canada, 22 March 1994
Sa'adi Al-Maleh
Translated from Arabic

"On tour, Kelani expresses her nostalgia through the choice of her material and her music gestures of blues and jazz."
The Gazette, Montreal, Canada, 19 March 1994
Daniel Feist

"She sat at the microphone and started to speak. Immediately the whole atmosphere was transformed. She spoke with a gleeful energy which at once infected everyone in the room... When she started to sing, she was smiling, almost laughing with defiance."
The Socialist Worker, UK, 15 May 1993
Paul Foot

"With her angelic voice and emotional charge, Reem Kelani proves that art is indeed a weapon."
Al-Hadaf, Kuwait, 2 June 1989
Translated from Arabic

"A paragon of performance artistry and passion."
As-Siyasah, Kuwait, 1 June 1989
Mufidah Hilmi
Translated from Arabic

"She manages to switch effortlessly from the cabaret sophistication of Fred Astaire's 'Top Hat' to a haunting Arabic song."
Arab Times, Kuwait, 1 June 1988
Keith Wells

"An accomplished singer and dancer."
Kuwait Times, 30 May 1988
Baby Joseph

"Reem Kelani has a superb voice, powerful, beautifully controlled and packed with emotion."
Arab Times, Kuwait, 17 October 1987
Keith Wells