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5 Alternative Arab Bands and Artists You Might Like

Like you might have noticed, Arab music is mostly the same. Throughout the Arab world there are few popular genres of music, and lyrically they are mostly very similar. We browsed around and found you a list of 5 alternative Arab bands and artists. Hope you like them!

Harget Kart is four friends from Jordan who specialize in fusion music, bringing you a cultural festival. The group is famous for transitioning in the middle of cover songs from English to Arabic and vice versa, whilst keeping the same tone and rhythm. Some of their notable artworks are the Apologize/Kifak Enta a mix between One Republic’s Apologize and Lebanese icon, Fairouz’s Kifak Enta, an Arab world classic.

Mashrou’ Leila is a Lebanese alternative rock band, made up of 5 members. The band was formed in Beirut, in 2008, as a music workshop at the American University of Beirut. Since then they have released three studio albums, Mashrou’ Leila in 2008, El Hal Romancy in 2011, and Ibn El Leil in 2015. The band has found great success as well as criticism for they alternative topics, satirical lyrics and themes.

Hello Psychaleppo is Samer Saem Eldahr, who comes from the Syrian city of Aleppo, and is known for using melodies from Arabic bedouin music known as “Mawwals”, and as well as ecstatic strains of Arabic tarab, and threads it through convoluted, industrial structures made from dubstep, drum & bass, electro and trip-hop. For people who likes to listen to psychedelic music with an Arabic twist, this is the man to party to.

Naserdayn Al Touffar is a Lebanese hip hop artist from El Ain near Baalbek, who started-off with the hip-hop group “Touffar.“ The political rapper has found success on his own after pursuing a solo career, continuing what he is known for, calling out systematic corruption and human rights violations, making him one of the most lyrical artists in the Middle East.

Omar Souleyman comes from the small town of Tell Tamer near the city of Ra’s al-‘Ayn in the northeastern region of Syria. Starting as a folksinger for local weddings, this Dabke artist became an international sensation with live performances all over the world after collaborating with western artists and producers.

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