World Picks From the Editors, Sept 29—Oct 15, 2023
A Markaz Review bi-weekly roundup of our editors' favorite selections from within the global arts and culture scene.
Category: Music
World Picks: Festival Arabesques in Montpellier
The largest festival of Arab and North African music takes place each year in Montpellier: Arabesques is quite the two-week extravaganza.
World Picks: Exist Festival + the Mosaic Room, London
Sept. 8-10, Exist Festival in London features film, talks, music, performance & dance; Sept. 6-14, also in London at the Mosaic Rooms, check out "In the Shade of the Sun."
Musical Artists at Work: Naïssam Jalal, Fazil Say & Azu Tiwaline
Sarah Naili interviews musical artists who meld eastern and western instruments, and forms, to create their unique sounds of beauty.
Reviving the Nay Tradition in Jordan
Jordanian Rabee’ Zureikat is on a mission to restore severed links to the Arab past by reviving a musical heritage, one nay at a time.
Freedom and Dislocation in Jamal Mahjoub’s Novel, The Fugitives
David Rife reviews the latest fiction from the Sudanese British author of more than a dozen literary and noir novels.
Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love
London-based Iraqi playwright Hassan Abdulrazak enthuses on the 2023 Shubbak theatre arts extravaganza, June 23-July 9.
Artist At Work: Maya Youssef Finds Home in the Qanun
Rana Asfour talks to Syrian-born and raised qanunist Maya Youssef, who now lives and teaches in the UK.
And Yet Our Brothers: Portraits of France
Laëtitia Soula toured the expansive photo exhibit Portraits of France, which celebrates the lives of 318 immigrants who paid it forward.
The Artist at Work—a Conversation with Souad Massi
Jordan Elgrably interviews the Algerian-French iconoclast about her first album after Covid and about why she's devoted her life to freedom.
Meet Ghoula—Arabic Music Remixed Via Tunisia
In her latest music column for TMR, Melissa Chemam profiles the genre-defying Tunisian electro artist Ghoula.
A new series in France, Raï Is Not Dead, Celebrates the Genre
Melissa Chemam attends the première of the new French music series on Arte TV at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.