12 November 2026

GetMusic.News

Indie Music Discovery

A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf’s The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End

A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf's The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End

A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf's The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End

Nineteen Tracks From a 49-Song Mountain Concert with an Orchestra, Band and 24-Voice Choir

The Encore opens with a 99-second welcome. Then it goes straight into Бумеранг (Boomerang), the song a mountainside crowd called for after the planned farewell. This Fujairah live album was recorded on 8 June 2026 and released on 25 September. It is credited to Alik Tarraf, Marina Tarraf and TARRAF EPIC CHOIR.

Marina Tarraf, Alik Tarraf and TARRAF EPIC CHOIR of TARRAF PRODUCTIONS are now in our Soundtrack, Cinematic, Trip-Hop playlist below, with Бумеранг (Boomerang) from the album, and her coverage is collected on Marina Tarraf’s artist profile. The Encore reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Press play on the album first, then keep reading for the night behind it.


A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf's The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End
A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf’s The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End

Who The Encore Is For, From Symphonic Rock Listeners to Fans of Live Orchestral Crossover

The record is built for listeners of cinematic, alternative and symphonic rock. It also suits anyone drawn to orchestral crossover, and the line-up explains why. Live vocals, an orchestra, a rock band and a 24-voice choir of twelve women and twelve men share one open-air stage. Electronic textures and Middle Eastern percussion sit inside that sound too.

Alik Tarraf calls the musical direction Epic Evolution Music. In practice, that means cinematic rock, electronic energy, live orchestration and storytelling in more than one language. The track titles show it. Some are in English, such as STAY, Still Yours and New World, while others are written in Cyrillic, such as ТЕНИ and НАЗАР.

The songs also take their time. ASH and NEON runs to six minutes and 46 seconds, and the whole album lasts just under an hour and 24 minutes. So listeners who like a song to build slowly, with room for the choir to arrive, will be at home here.

It is also a record for people who like to hear a concert as it really happened. The band sang and played without playback, so a shaking voice or a changed phrase stays audible. According to Alik Tarraf’s own account of the night, the hesitation before ASH and NEON is still in the recording. So is the moment in New World when Marina Tarraf and the choir carried a part that exhaustion had taken from Alik Tarraf.

Where to Start on The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album

Start with Evolution is Alive, a 67-second call and response. The host, Lezzy, trades lines with Marina Tarraf, the choir and the crowd, built on the words Epic and Evolution. Then try Aureum Orchestra, which gives the instruments their own space. Finally, Thank You, Fujairah keeps a goodbye that nobody had planned.

A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf's The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End
A First Listen to Alik and Marina Tarraf’s The Encore, a Fujairah Live Album That Refused to End

A Crowd of Nearly Two Thousand, a 49-Song Night and the TARRAF Community Behind The Encore

The early response came before the album existed. The concert was the first TARRAF LIVE SHOW, and the plan was 35 songs. The main programme closed with Ignis in Me, and Dream of Light was the agreed encore. Then calls for Boomerang started from beyond the fan zone. Nearly two thousand people made it clear that nobody was going home, and the band kept playing until the count reached 49 songs.

That night became three albums, and this Fujairah live album is the last of them. The Opening arrived on 15 July 2026 with 22 tracks, and The Fire followed on 21 August with 23. The Encore completes the set with 19. Spoken introductions, improvisations and instrumental moments sit alongside the songs, so the trilogy follows the night in order.

The Team and the TARRAF Universe Behind the Fujairah Live Album

The work did not stop with the applause. Manik Bhatheja, the executive director of the live show, describes hundreds of separately recorded audio tracks. They cover voices, instruments, choir and audience microphones. Marina Tarraf edited all nineteen tracks of The Encore and directed the visual production. Looking back on the night, she put it simply: “We gave everything we had.”

The community around the record is wide. TARRAF PRODUCTIONS is an independent label, creative studio and live production company. Alik and Marina Tarraf lead it as Ukrainian artists now based in the UAE, and its catalogue documents more than 300 recordings. In addition, the wider TARRAF UNIVERSE takes in mini films, the TARRAF DANCE ACADEMY and OBARABO, an original artistic language and narrative music saga. The credits list Ivan Dolhopiat, Ihor Kvilinskyi, Waleed Robbie and Nazarii Storozhuk as producers. Smriti Bhatheja is the creative director and art director.

For comparison, think of Metallica‘s S&M, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony in 1999. Its listeners will recognise the pull between a rock band and an orchestra on one stage. Likewise, fans of Two Steps From Hell know choral and orchestral writing on a trailer scale. Here that scale is played live instead.

The next TARRAF LIVE SHOW is already in preparation. Its stated aim is to break the fourth wall and bring the audience directly into the story.

From the GetMusic.News curator team: “The Encore is best heard in order, from the welcome to the final thank-you. The restarts and the crowd are part of the performance. Keeping them where they fell turns a live album into a record of one night, not a highlights reel.”

Stream The Encore on Apple Music or through its DistroKid link page, and find the earlier volumes through The Opening and The Fire. Follow Marina Tarraf on Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube. Follow Alik Tarraf on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, X, TikTok and Facebook. TARRAF PRODUCTIONS is also on YouTube, Telegram and its official website.


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