By Amanda Murthy
Successfully charming the judges at the 2016 Australia’s Got Talent national competition with a Golden Buzzer tap, Perth’s very own favourite sibling trio, The Subih Brothers, were back at yet another national event, this time, making several appearances at the recent Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) where they performed for over 5500 young people from around the country, from 8 to 10 December.
Singing some of their best crowd favourite covers, at various areas of the festival including at the Summer Garden, Encounter Expo stage, the Pre-Plenary stage and at the Perth local gathering event, the active members of the Perth Melkite Catholic community who attend the Our Lady of the Annunciation Melkite Catholic Church in Inglewood, collectively agree that, their Catholic faith and undying support from their family are both their greatest gifts from God, they cannot imagine life without.
Manuel, Shaheen and Andrie said that although ACYF was not their first festival experience, it was one of their most encouraging, exciting and inspiring experiences yet, for many reasons.
“The 2019 ACYF wasn’t our first festival but one of our best festival experiences,” Shaheen exclaimed.
“The crowd were amazing because we could see the community from all around the country come together with the same purpose – to celebrate the Catholic Church of Australia.
“What a great opportunity to bring the Melkite youth together from interstate, along with all the other Catholic’s to celebrate our faith.
“We especially enjoyed the Final Mass on 10 December, at Trinity College which was very inspiring, and also working with the crew behind the scenes was a joyful experience we will never forget” he added.
Sharing some family history, the trio credit their immediate and extended family members as their greatest musical influences and supporters, from a very young age.
“Our grandparents migrated from Palestine over 30 years ago and at that time our Mum was 11 years old and learning English through primary school,” Shaheen explained.
“Less than 10 years later my Dad migrated to Australia from Syria and met our Mum through family friends, and the rest was history.
“Myself (Shaheen) and my twin brother (Manuel) were born only a couple years later, followed by our remaining bandmate, our brother Andrie, followed by our little sister, Elissa,” he added.
The Subih Brothers agreed that family and faith are the very reason the boys decided to pursue music in the first place.
“Growing up we were
surrounded by music, from the amazing men and women in our family,” Manuel
cited.
“Our grandfather is a respected Arabic musician, our Dad is a well-known Arabic
singer along with his brothers (our Uncles) – Our grandmother sings in our
Church choir and our aunty has a strong background in dance.
“Having all these amazing influences in our lives and being around them a lot, helped us develop our love for music and performing in our early life.
“We were also fortunate enough to be involved in our Church choir as kids and now that we are older we have come to realise more and more, how much that played a big part in our music success,” they added.
The brothers urged the young Church to always find ways to stay connected to their faith, through prayer and music – and to always be proud of who they are.
“Music brings people together and if we can use our talent to bring more people together, especially in the Catholic community, we feel that we have used our gift in the right way,” they stated.
“In today’s world we have access to news all around the world through the internet and social media which means the younger generation has more access to negativity in the world.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of hate on a daily basis and our faith allows us to stay grounded and be kind to people.
“It is important that we support and encourage others to stay true to the faith and remain humble and grateful,” the brothers added.