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.

Meet the mother of three who is Egypt's first female maestro

Eman Genedy has conducted several orchestras and made a name for herself in a conservative society that frowns upon women singing, let alone conducting an orchestra.

Iranian musicians perform during a concert at the Interior Ministry building in Tehran April 24, 2008. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN) - GM1E44P0EH701

Iran’s concert tax infuriates artists, music fans

Iran’s musicians worry that a new tax that chips away 10% of concert revenues would deliver a blow to their stage performances.

Who are the heroes, hustlers and innovators of Kurdish wedding music?

In marathon-like Kurdish weddings that can last for days, local wedding singers steer their audiences between folk songs, national anthems and even techno music.

Garbage collectors of Ankara discover sound of music in trash

Members of The Tin Band, made up of municipality trash collectors, use recycled instruments they find in bins to give public concerts.

Afrin musician teaches region's musical heritage to children

Mostafa Bakr has opened a music school in downtown Afrin where he teaches children and adults to play the string instruments of the region, from buzuq to tanbur.

Will Egypt's rappers ever receive rave reviews?

Aly Soliman, an Egyptian rapper, seems to have set his sights on the 2020 Grammy Awards, but his country is simply not keen on this music genre.

Festival brings Sufi bands from region and beyond to Palestine

This year's Al-Kamandjati festival has brought Sufi music to Palestinians despite some technical difficulties and entry permit denials for musicians.

Israelis crazy for mass singings

The Koolulam mass singing phenomenon has swept up thousands of Israelis in an effort to bring harmony to a divided society.

Controversial Iranian rapper reignites clash between Reformists, hard-liners

An Iranian rapper's weed-smoking at a concert in Georgia has given Reformists another chance to attack rival conservatives, who once idolized the controversial singer.

Music for martyrs: AUC highlights songs of 1919 revolution

A hundred years after Egypt’s 1919 revolution led to the country's formal independence from Britain, the American University in Cairo paid homage to the artistic legacy of the revolution with the songs of Sayed Darwish.

For the love of Mary and hymn: Muslim singer perks up ears

Dalia Ihab Younis shrugs off critics who find it odd or somehow unacceptable that a Muslim woman in a hijab sings hymns venerating the Virgin Mary.

Academy fights discrimination with art, music in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

Peace of Art, a humanitarian organization and fine arts academy, offers the people of the northern Bekaa Valley an artistic and pacifist outlet in a region plagued by conflict.