Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic At the height of Coldplay’s headline set at Glastonbury this year, they were joined on stage by a radiant figure. The Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna appeared beside Chris Martin and, as the crowd roared, belted out a verse on the band’s song “Arabesque”, translated into her native Arabic. The moment capped a huge year for the 22-year-old, who recently made history by performing the first set entirely in Arabic at Coachella in 2023. Despite singing in a language that much of the anglophone audience can’t understand, Elyanna is not angling to be the next big thing in “world” music. She’s setting her sights higher: to become a pop megastar, the next Rihanna.A few years ago, this dream would have been unthinkable. For musicians to go global, they had to sing in English. But today’s western audiences are more open to genres and languages from around the world, as proven in the meteoric rise of K-pop, reggaeton and Afrobeats. Arabic music’s diverse strains are beginning to permeate every echelon of the western music scene, from the pop mainstream to underground nightclubs.Artists with Arab roots have succeeded in the American music industry before. Hip-hop producer DJ Khaled was born in New Orleans to Palestinian parents, and rapper French Montana emigrated to the US from Morocco, yet they rarely reference their backgrounds in their music — and nor should they have to.But Elyanna embodies a new paradigm: an artist who is confident of cracking the mainstream while fully embracing her Arab heritage. Born and raised in Nazareth before emigrating to California, on her debut album Woledto she combines the familiar elements of sleek modern R&B, trap and pop with the distinctive rhythms of Arab music and lyrics whose composition pays homage to zajal, a style of Lebanese poetry that her grandfather used to perform at weddings. Other artists are also gaining ground internationally while singing in Arabic, such as Egyptian rapper Wegz, the first Arab artist to have a global tour backed by concert giant Live Nation, or Lebanese queen of pop Nancy Ajram, who was tapped by EDM (electronic dance music) star Marshmello to provide vocals for the song “Sah Sah”, the first track with Arabic lyrics to make Billboard’s dance charts.Many Arab diaspora artists are free to travel to perform — while many artists living in Arab states are denied visas Why is this happening now? A significant reason is that Arabic-language artists are finally getting an international platform they never had before. The global music industry has identified an untapped market — one music professional told the FT that a regional Spotify manager was on the lookout for “the next Despacito hit from the Arab world”.Universal Music has established an Arabic label under Wassim Slaiby, the manager who helped The Weeknd grow into one of the world’s biggest stars. There have been other opportunities for international recognition, from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which showcased the music of several major Arab artists, to the soundtracks of TV shows such as Ramy, Mo and Moon Knight.Meanwhile new technology has lowered the barriers around music production and dissemination. “Back in the day you’d have to convince a whole bunch of people who look nothing like you that your music was worth pushing,” says Mazen Almaskati, one half of Bahraini musical duo Dar Disku, “but now you can put yourself out there in your music, something that represents you and your culture, and it could blow up on TikTok and launch you to the rest of the world.” This has already happened to several singers from the Arab world and its diaspora: Issam Alnajjar, Saint Levant and Lana Lubany all had viral TikTok moments.Dar Disku, whose debut album Dbayli pays retro-tinted tribute to regional genres from Algerian rai to Turkish psychedelia and Lebanese disco, point out that media coverage of Arab people tends to focus exclusively on war and regional tensions. “When I see negative representations of Arabs in the media, I think of my family, who are just the complete polar opposite,” says Almaskati, “they’re the most loud, outgoing, loving people who love to feed you, dance, sing, and have a great time together.” Dar Disku want to channel this energy and provide a joyful sound to counterbalance the negative representation. “It’s important to be proud of your heritage and translate that through your art form,” adds Vish Mhatre, the other half of the duo. “Now people are realising: Oh, this is a culture that celebrates creativity, that celebrates liberation.”The pair are now based in the UK, joining the large Arab diaspora across Europe and North America. Some of the young diasporic generation listen to Arabic music as a way to reconnect with their distant family heritage. Others, such as Gaza-raised, US-based singer Saint Levant, make their hyphenated identities and sense of displacement a theme of their music. Saint Levant, Egyptian R&B singer Felukah, Sudanese-Canadian folk singer Mustafa and Sudanese rapper Nadine El Roubi all switch effortlessly between languages when it suits them.Christina Hazboun, a Palestinian music industry professional and researcher focusing on music from the Arabic-speaking world and the global south, underlines the fact that many Arab diaspora artists have been able to achieve international prominence partly because they are free to travel for performances, while many artists living in Arab countries are blocked from travelling or denied visas by western countries. For Mhatre, this sad reality only makes his mission more vital. “We get to travel and have a platform at huge festivals like Glastonbury,” he says. “A lot of artists from our region don’t have that luxury, so we have a duty to share our culture and message.”Right now, as Dar Disku prepare for their first album’s release, they and many other artists are excited about the new opportunities available for Arab musicians. In Mhatre’s words: “I think we’re ready to have our moment now.”‘Dbayli’ is out on September 27Find out about our latest stories first — follow FT Weekend on Instagram and X, and subscribe to our podcast Life & Art wherever you listen
