Music

Assala Nasri (C) attends the 2025 Joy Awards at The Venue, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 18, 2025.

Culture

Syrian singer Assala returns to Damascus stage after 15-year exile

The Syrian star, one of the Arab world’s most famous artists, had been in self-exile since 2011 after she openly supported the uprising against the since-ousted Assad government.

Arash Sobhani performing in Amsterdam on Oct. 25. 2025.

Culture

Musician Arash Sobhani brings protest-infused Iranian rock to New York

The founder of the famed Tehran band Kiosk says the album addresses the failures of uprisings in Iran while incorporating influences from the wide range of musical styles in his new home.

Fayruz

Culture

In rare appearance, Fairuz mourns son Ziad Rahbani as Lebanon bids farewell

Legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz attended the funeral of her son, renowned composer and playwright, Ziad Rahbani, at a church in a town north of Beirut, in her first public appearance in years.

Protesters hold signs during a rally protesting against a death sentence given to Toomaj Salehi, a famous Iranian rapper, in Berlin, Germany, on April 28, 2024.

Culture

Iranian rapper Toomaj, who supported protests, released from prison

Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death earlier this year after releasing a song in support of the Mahsa Amini protests, though the ruling was overturned by the supreme court.

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Culture

Iranian rapper Toomaj sentenced to death over protest support

Image of Toomaj Salehi.

Saudi Arabia's SRMG invests in music streamer Anghami, Spotify’s Middle East rival

A general view during MDLBEAST SOUNDSTORM 2021 on Dec. 19, 2021, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Culture

What's behind removal of Palestinian Mohammed Assaf's song from Spotify?

Arab Idol Winner (2012) Mohammed Assaf conducts interviews for The Idol co financed by the Doha Film Institute on day 2 of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2015 on November 30, 2015 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Culture

Egypt hopes Colombian superstar's song will draw tourists

Karol G attends the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards at Michelob ULTRA Arena., Las Vegas, Nov. 17, 2022.

Gazan child raps about broken dreams under siege

Abdel Rahman Salih al-Shanti, an 11-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip, has made international headlines, with English rap songs evoking Gaza’s wars and sufferings under the Israeli blockade.

Maestro Harout Fazlian conducts rehearsals ahead of the Sound of Resilience concert inside the Temple of Bacchus at the historic site of Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, on July 4, 2020. - The Lebanese philharmonic orchestra performed to spectator-free Roman ruins in east Lebanon, after a top summer festival downsized to a single concert in a year of economic meltdown and COVID-19 pandemic. The Baalbek International Festival was instead beamed live on television and social media, in what its direc

Lebanon's Baalbeck Festival moves world audience with dramatic online performance

Lebanon's beloved Baalbeck Festival has survived various challenging times, and this year was no exception.

Hammad Atwa, a Palestinian man who makes lutes, known in Arabic as an "Oud", works on a musical instrument at the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2014. Hammad sells his handmade lutes for 300 American dollars a piece. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza band plays music to uplift spirits, bring hope

The Street Band plays music for free in Gaza's public places, in a attempt to help Gazans forget their daily sufferings.

Jailed musician dies after nearly yearlong hunger strike in Turkey

Grup Yorum's Ibrahim Gokcek died two days after suspending his “death fast."

Facing the music of the Holocaust in Turkey

Turkey has long claimed that it has saved many Jews twice in history, but how true is that?

Don't say it with music: Egyptian MP drafts new penalties for racy lyrics

After the controversy over lyrics of a popular song, an Egyptian lawmaker drafted a new law that would put singers behind bars for talking dirty.

Don't let the music die: Istanbul's nightlife grinds to halt due to COVID-19

Istanbul's taverns and halls close their doors as the residents of the metropolis stay in due to the coronavirus outbreak in Turkey.

Members of popular Turkish folk collective approach death on hunger strike

Turkey's iconic Grup Yorum has not been able to perform since 2016 and a number of its members have been jailed on dubious terror charges.

Rap becomes battle cry of Iraqi protests

Rap music has exploded among young Iraqi protesters, who bring the music with them to energize their demonstrations.

Egypt bans 'music of the slums'

Egypt's powerful Musicians Syndicate bans mahraganat music and asks streaming giants to take down the songs with "unethical lyrics."

Artists, who are against the Egyptian army and government, work on graffiti representing anti-military power along Mohamed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square in Cairo early November 24, 2013. To commemmorate the passing of 100 days since security forces cleared the vigils in support of ousted President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood plan to take to the streets on Sunday. Army and police forces closed Rabaa al-Adawiya, Tahrir and Nahda squares in preparation for the demonstration

Artistic freedom of expression shrinks in 'new' Egypt

Nine years after a revolution that had "freedom" as a primary demand, censorship of the arts and music is back in full force with added restrictions on organizing cultural events in Egypt.

Queen of Lebanese hip-hop raps on revolution

Veteran Middle Eastern hip-hop artist Malikah's new release at the height of the Lebanese protests marks a shift in her music and views on Lebanon.