Deep TR-808 bass meets pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices and futurist visions. AMMAR 808 is Sofyann Ben Youssef, the sonic mastermind behind the sensational bands such Bargou 08 and Kel Assouf.

The future is right now. We have driverless cars, robots taking over jobs, and commercial space travel is on the event horizon. Somehow, humanity has slipped into a science fiction life. But you can’t have a future without a past, something AMMAR 808 knows very well. On his debut release, Maghreb United, featuring the singers Mehdi Nassouli (Morocco), Sofiane Saidi (Algeria) and Cheb Hassen Tej (Tunisia), he connects the two to offer a radical, electronic reinvention of ancient North African music.

Bab L’ Bluz are reclaiming the blues for North Africa. Fronted by an African-Moroccan woman in a traditionally male role, the band are devoted to a revolution in attitude which dovetails with Morocco’s ‘nayda’ youth movement – a new wave of artists and musicians taking their cues from local heritage, singing words of freedom in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect of darija. Ancient and current, funky and rhythmic, buoyed by Arabic lyrics, soaring vocals and bass-heavy grooves, Nayda! seems to pulse from the heart of the Maghreb.

Bea Kadri is a rising Lebanese independent singer-songwriter based in Dubai. She first made her debut in 2018 with “Cloud 9” and has consistently been releasing records since. The soulstress writes & sings about self-discovery, empowerment, and all matters of the heart, creating an original R&b chill and sultry sound.

The Music Producer, Song Writer, Rapper and Singer was born in Damascus – Syria In 1991 to a religious Muslim family. Bu Kolthoum combines the “Tarab” music that sunk in his ears for years upon years growing up, with the Hip hop/Rnb and Soul Influences that shaped his project's sounds for many years to come.

Egyptian female rapper Felukah introduces us to her genre-less, fluid sound.

One of the most unique musicians to come out of the Kingdom, soulful Saudi singer Abdul Rahman Hajaj, who is known simply as Hajaj, made a breakthrough in 2021 with his six-track LP, Last Call for Coco. The release of this album saw Hajaj become the face of an influential Spotify playlist with his hit “Learning To Live Without You”.

Unlike most artists, Hajaj ditched the computerised recording approach and recorded the album exclusively on tape, resulting in an authentic sound that’s reminiscent of the 60s and 70s soul era. Hajaj’s uniquely warm and gritty voice paired with jazzy and smooth electric guitar solos makes him a truly innovative singer.

Anees is an independent artist from Virginia. His music is a genre-bending treat of ear candy melodies, sublime rhyme-scheming and crooning lyricism. His authentic blend of pop and hip-hop with an r&b tone often draws comparison to artists such as Mac Miller, Jon Bellion, and Chance The Rapper.

Anees writes from the soul, for the soul. His music is medicine. Love and healing energy is at the core of his artistry.

Anees’ first viral single, “slip”, is a summery love song that picked up a passionate co-sign from Justin Bieber, which led to global press coverage. His breakout hit record “sun and moon” took over the internet in 2022, topping the Billboard Philippines charts for 6 weeks straight. Anees performed “sun and moon” on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the song has since surpassed 200 million streams.

In May 2023, Anees released his debut album “summer camp”. The album has more than 200 million streams across platforms. On the heels of his album release, Anees sold out his national tour, the “summer camp album tour”, spanning 26 shows across the country.

Tripoli, Libya-born Bahjat is the rising superstar of A-Pop (Arab Pop). With more than 50+ million on-demand streams, 150+ million YouTube views, and 600+ million Tik Tok views accumulated on his music independently, Bahjat is already one of the most successful Libyan artists in music history. Bahjat’s achievements put him in a position where he could become the Arab world’s first global superstar and a shining crossover hope to fly the flag for his region.

A Palestinian Boom-Bap rapper turned pop star, turned Hip Hop artist, BIG SAM is one of the most truthful solo artists, specifically in lyrics. He is considered seasoned amongst his peers and has joined YouTube in 2016. He is also extremely versatile both artistically and lyrically.

Switching between genres with ease, it is always well reserved by his ever-growing fanbase of over one million subscribers on YouTube. He is very creative with topics to sing about from love and heartbreak to the Palestinian struggle against the occupation. He is definitely worth a listen.

Fairuz was born in 1935, the eldest child of Wadih Haddad and Liza Bustani. Her father was a print-shop technician who moved his family to Beirut from the village of Dbayeh in the Chouf region with the goal of making a better living. The young Fairuz showed her singing talent as a young child and often sang for her family and neighbors.

In high school, at age 14, she was discovered by Mohammed Fleifel, who scouted schools for singers to perform on a then-new national radio station. Struck by her talent, he became her first agent and manager; he assisted her in gaining entry to the National Conservatory of Music, where she studied for five years. There and in public Fairuz sang for the Palestinian cause without politicizing it. She also paid respect to various Arab capitals without personalizing them. Of course, her home nation of Lebanon was among them, and her singing garnered her more political and diplomatic bona fides than most professionals.

As her agent and manager, Fleifel believed in a singer's training method prevalent in Egypt at the time, the chanting of Koranic verses, which birthed the careers of Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdul Wahab. This skill, which Fairuz employed to great benefit in her intonation and command of the classical language, became clear in her singing of maquam, a classical Arabic poetic form and a secular musical genre. It probably helped her sharpen the Eastern style in her singing in the proper melodic Arabic modes.

Flippter is the musical project of Saudi and Sudan based rapper Loay Karim, whose signature comedic offerings like 'Gorasa' and 'Tamees' have continually been refreshing and struck a chord with both Saudi and Sudanese audiences alike.

Khansa is a Lebanese singer/songwriter and dancer who breaks stereotypes of traditional Middle Eastern values regarding masculinity, through his dancing and singing. His diverse cultural references range from religion to art, telling an untold story about the Middle East.