DUBAI: Whenever Gina Choerunisa shares her covers of Arabic classics with her Indonesian followers, praise usually pours in. But this week, something unexpected happened: One of her clips went viral — not at home, but in Saudi Arabia — suddenly bringing her into online fame.
The video that was widely shared by Saudi netizens and soon made the rounds on various social media platforms across the Arab world was Gina’s interpretation of one of the greatest hits by the celebrated Kuwaiti singer Abdallah Al-Rowaished.
She only found out what was happening when TikTok’s algorithm showed her a post in Arabic, featuring her video and mentioning her name. In the short clip, she holds her 1-year-old son and casually sings to the mirror Al-Rowaished’s “Ana Batbaa Galbi” (I follow my heart).
“We started checking it with my husband and realized that there were so many such posts. So many people were uploading it in Saudi Arabia and Yemen,” Gina told Arab News.
“I was so happy. I was so proud, because I’ve always loved Arabic songs ... When I perform here, in Indonesia, in every event I would include Arabic music.”
