10.05.2023 Arab Music Masterclass

There are some voices that define a country's music. There are some movements that define a country's culture.

Join Laura Marie Brown, Creative Producer of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival for an Arab Music Masterclass, a series exploring some of the artists, sounds, bands and scenes that define the Arab world.

Launching this year’s Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, on Friday 7 July, is legendary British Somali artist Aar Maanta. In honour of this headline act in this show we celebrate the Sounds of Somalia and take you into the rap and hip hop trends of Mogadishu, explore how social media is driving awareness of Somali artists and why multilingual artists are the voice of a young generation. 

As Liverpool Arab Arts Festival celebrates its 25th birthday this year, we also dip into the archive to share some of our favourite tracks of bands who have played the festival. 

Relevant artistics and reading list:

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/7/13/rap-music-finds-home-in-somalia-as-youth-embrace-genre

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/arabic-music-is-on-the-brink-of-a-global-breakthrough/

https://www.newarab.com/features/somali-uae-rapper-freek-mashes-beat-arab-style