Arabic pop is going mainstream, and we love it

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 [email protected]. 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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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Life and Art from FTE Weekend.
0:03.7	I'm Lila Raptopoulos.
0:14.9	You're listening to a song by the Palestinian-Chilean artist Eliana, who is born and raised in Nazareth and now lives in Los Angeles.
0:27.6	Eliana is 22, she has a contract with Universal, and she sings mostly in Arabic.
0:34.1	This is Eliana performing at the Governor's Ball in New York this summer.
0:40.1	She's also played at Coachella, at Glastonbury with the band Coldplay on the Stephen Colbert Show.
0:46.3	Basically, for an Arabic language singer, Eliana is huge.
0:49.8	And she's a sign of the times.
0:51.7	In the last few years, interest in Arabic pop has exploded,
0:55.4	similar to how Latin pop became mainstream before it. My colleague, the journalist Tom Faber,
1:00.7	has deep knowledge of Arabic music and recently wrote about this phenomenon for FT Weekend.
1:05.6	And he's with me today to talk about it. Hi, Tom. Hi, Lila. It's good to be back.
1:09.7	It's so good to have you back. Um, okay, so to start,
1:13.1	why don't you tell me how you first heard about Eliana. I know you spent a lot of time in Egypt.
1:18.8	Was it there or online or somewhere else? I actually first, uh, heard Eliana in person at Glastonbury
1:26.9	this year. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was there for the first time
1:30.1	in a few years and I was wandering past Cold Place that I can't say I was permanently installed.
1:36.9	And I saw her come on the stage and I heard singing in Arabic and that really stopped me in my tracks.
1:43.6	What did you think of her music as you learn more about her?
1:48.1	Like, were you surprised by anything about her music?
1:50.6	I think it's cool.
1:52.4	I have spent a few years myself living in North Africa and the Middle East area,
	...

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