Ryan Milov-Córdoba, also known as Call Me Córdoba on social networks, is an American singer and songwriter who loves Arabic and its dialect variations from the Middle East to North Africa. The 31 year-old artist has never studied music formally, but his passion for it brought him to master it after high school, where he was a singer and guitar player in a small band.
Ryan’s love for Arabic language and the culture of the Arab world led him to visit Morocco in 2017. His trip to southeastern Morocco amplified his interest in North African music. During his visit to Merzouga, he stopped by the village of Khamilia where he saw a live Gnaoua musical performance by a local band. The melodic language of the stringed instrument (Gambri) and the collective vocals with unique speech patterns got him hooked on North African music and he decided to learn more about it. His stay in Morocco, which lasted 4 weeks, allowed him to discover the different local musical genres and songs. He was convinced that this music deserves to reach the ears of his audience, so he decided to serve as a musical bridge to bring cultures, ethnicities and languages of the Arab world and Americana closer together.
Ryan’s interest in Arab music didn’t stop in Morocco, but extended to Jordanian and Palestinian music and dialects as well. Last June, he released a cover of the song “Wahdeh Bteshbahek” by the Jordanian rock band “Jadal” and is expected to release his second musical project in Arabic, entitled “Brooklyd”, on September 3rd at 4 pm GMT.
It is worth mentioning Ryan is also a doctoral candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at City University New York (CUNY) and a teacher at Saint Anne’s School and Hunter College.
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