Let’s hear it straight from the source… The region’s annual checkpoint for assessing the state of its music ecosystem, XP Music Futures ’25, returns for its…
Author: Hesham Badr
Hesham Badr
Hesham would rather listen to music than to most people talk and he’s built a life around that truth. For the past three years, he’s been tuned into the MENA music scene, writing, reporting, and swapping stories with the artists behind the sound. When he’s not reading about music, he’s listening to it, and when he’s not listening to music, he's making his own.
With a blend of electronic instrumentals and classical, often poetic Arabic vocals and lyrics, the Syrian-German duo Shkoon, Ameen from Syria and Thorben from Hamburg, has…
The violent, systematic attacks on Palestinian people, both in Gaza and elsewhere, have been all over the news for months. The massacres in Sudan haven’t received…
In a world where music is often treated as a commodity, priced beyond reach and framed as a privilege, it’s rare to see a DIY effort…
With the Arab Cup approaching and the region’s football calendar moving into its final stretch, the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025 Local Organising Committee has put…
Although this year Shababco isn’t giving much attention to the music side of the festivities, unlike last year, when they hosted a full music stage featuring…
What begins with a sampled snare made from a spoon clicking against a cup of tea as the sugar mixes sets the tone for ‘Bismar’, a…
After an eight-year hiatus since Maryam Saleh’s last full-length project, she unveils her first secret ‘El Fetra’ (translated as “The Instinct”) from her upcoming album ‘Syrr’,…
Hady Moamer drops a somber double single just a few weeks after releasing his love song “Mon Amour,” titled in the language of romance, “French”. While…
The pyramids heard it too… The world’s oldest wonders have heard their fair share of musical history, from timeless melodies to bone-rattling basslines. From classical legends…
