موسيقى عربية (Arabic Music)

A man in Ouarzazate playing a ribab violin, a traditional Berber instrument.

Here is some music I have come across. Granted, the majority of the artists here sing in English and Arabic, and I have come across others that I still would want to know what they are singing before posting online. I did find out after one of my Arabic classes, that one song was singing about how a person is majnoon, "crazy", to my surprise :D 

Click "Read More" to see the music videos. 

Mashrou Leila 

Mashrou Leila is an indie-rock band based out of Lebanon. They have many songs singing about human rights, with an emphasis on gay and women's rights. Because members of the band are gay, they have been banned from playing in certain countries within the region, but continue to make music. 

Regarding the video "Roman" - "As the band explains, the women in the video are "styled to over-articulate their ethnic background, in a manner more typically employed by Western media to victimize them. This seeks to disturb the dominant global narrative of hyper-secularized (white) feminism, which increasingly positions itself as incompatible with Islam and the Arab world, celebrating the various modalities of Middle Eastern feminism." (Tsioulcas, A., 2017)" 

Shadia Mansour 

Shadia Mansour is an English-Palestinian hip-hop artist who has many political types of songs.
​The video to the right is a collaboration with Chilean hip-hop artist Ana Tijoux. 

The oud and violin 

Left: Simon Shaheen, a Palestinian-American composer. 
​Middle: Music from Turkey, it's incredible. 
Right: Though Yanni is a Greek composer, this song reminds me of the Middle East. 

Omar Offendum 

Omar Offendum is a Syrian United Statesian hip-hop artist. "Finjan" is in English, but I like the song so I put it here anyway. 
Narcy and Lowkey are good social justice hip-hop artists who collaborate with Offendum and Mansour. 

Amr Diab

Amr Diab is a classic, in a modern-era sense. I've heard him played in 3 different countries, and met people from Sudan, Iran, Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon who are all familiar with his music. Nour El Ein is a big hit. 
​

Tsioulcas, A. (2017, July 19). Songs We Love: Mashrou' Leila, 'Roman'. Retrieved April 06, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/2017/07/19/537923929/songs-we-love-mashrou-leila-roman