Arab music
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Egyptian singer Dina El Wedidi
Hypnotic rail rhythms
Singer Dina El Wedidi was one of the most prominent Egyptian singers among the protestors in Tahrir Square. She has just released her latest album, "Manam / Slumber", an experimental venture featuring a 30-minute suite that captures the sounds of Egypt’s trains and railway stations. By Stefan Franzen
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"Salib Sufi" project
Peace in their hearts, love in their minds
"Salib Sufi" (literally: "Sufi Cross") combines Christian chants and prayers with Sufi chants and recitations. Accompanied by instruments from East and West, the band performs a mixture of classical recitation and modern singing, featuring elements of Old Coptic. Eslam Anwar interviews project initiator Salib Fawzy
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Emancipation and music
Black Tunisiansʹ bitter heritage
In the south-eastern Tunisian region of Medenine, music represented a socially marginalised way for post-emancipation blacks to advance. These days thatʹs not enough to satisfy the younger generation. By Marta Scaglioni
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Album review: "Two Niles to Sing a Melody"
The strings and synths of Sudan
Ostinato Recordsʹ latest release, "Two Niles to Sing a Melody", is not only a collection of sixteen songs from the peak period of the country’s popular music era, the 1970s, it also contains fascinating first-hand accounts from a variety of musicians who survived the purges during the subsequent clampdown on popular culture. By Richard Marcus
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Iraq post-IS
Mosulʹs cultural comeback
Music is back in Mosul, as are books and paintings. With Islamic State gone, locals are enjoying their newfound freedom and embracing culture. Will it last? Judit Neurink reports from Mosul
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Female Yemeni artists
Making art in times of war
Jeem is a new website for young, Arabic-speaking people, dealing with the topics "love, sexuality and society". The idea was first conceived in 2015, when the team at the Goethe-Institut in Cairo wanted to establish a digital project for youth in the region. This is an excerpt from an article by Afrah Nasser about four Yemeni artists who have been affected by war and displacement
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Syrian-Philippino rapper Nasser Shorbaji
Hip-hopping between generations
Nasser Shorbaji, aka Chyno, has been active on the Lebanese hip-hop scene for more than eight years now. His trademark sound is anti-war, against the dispossession and enforced exile of people in the region. It is a message that has influenced many younger generation musicians – a group he is particularly keen to encourage. Interview by Tugrul von Mende
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Legendary oud player and singer Sheikh Imam
Egypt's musical rebel
2 July 2018 marked the centenary of the birth of Egyptian protest singer Sheikh Imam. Martina Sabra visited the legendary artist several times in the 1990s and has observed that many years after his death, Sheikh Imam's music is still very much alive on the streets of Egypt
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"Future Lab Tunisia"
It all comes down to music
The idea of becoming a musician was beyond the wildest dreams of the children at one Tunisian school. Until, that is, "Future Lab Tunisia" arrived – and with it the realisation that dreams might just come true. By Myriel Desgranges
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Interview with Iranian artist Shirin Neshat
The many faces of Oum Kulthum
In "Looking for Oum Kulthum", successful Iranian artist Shirin Neshat has created a highly personal work about the Egyptian singer. In conversation with Schayan Riaz, she talks about the political dimension of icons and the patriarchal nature of the film industry
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Moroccoʹs ʹaitaʹ folk music and "Cabaret al-Shaikat"
Cross-dressers lead a musical revival
On a makeshift stage in Casablanca eight men perform wearing women's outfits, a band resurrecting the nearly forgotten historical Bedouin genre of ʹaitaʹ music. By Mariam Qamar
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Remembering the French film-maker Axel Salvatori-Sinz
This is Yarmouk!
French film-maker and activist Axel Salvatori-Sinz, whose documentary "The Shebabs of Yarmouk" (2013) earned him international acclaim, died tragically from cancer at the beginning of 2018, aged just 36. Palestinian singer Reem Kelani, who worked on the music for the film, penned this obituary for Qantara.de