Life and Art from FT Weekend9 Sep 2024

Arabic pop is going mainstream, and we love it

There’s an Arabic pop music wave that’s about to hit your world. Or maybe it already has! Last year, the Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna became the first artist to do an Arabic-language set at the Coachella music festival, and she’s a sign of the times. Other artists such as Wegz, Marwan Pablo, Saint Levant and Nancy Ajram are also putting out Arabic-language albums intended for global audiences, and touring in Europe and North America while doing so. FT contributor Tom Faber recently saw Elyanna with Coldplay on stage, and he thinks the Arabic pop sound is finally breaking through. He tells Lilah why the phenomenon may be happening now and who we should be listening to.

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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at lifeandart@ft.com. We are ever grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):

– Tom has graciously compiled a playlist for us to go with this episode. You can listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4oijOIGmUa7tRWgqqdovjb?si=2c4c587f1b854020

– Tom’s written piece on Arabic pop is here: https://on.ft.com/47jnR4R. You can also check out his latest column on video games here: https://on.ft.com/3ZeLKsD

– Tom is on X @_TomFaber

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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Clips in this episode are from: Universal Arabic Music, Takwene, Felukah.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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