My name is Nooriyah. I am an Arabic music specialist DJ and audio producer. I’ll be headlining the sold out Fierce Voices event on the last day of Shubbak Festival 2021 with an upbeat DJ set. This playlist (now unavailable, was originally on: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hU4CVYqNbDNzpRWpXBAm9?si=d0e4084ce71c420f) is a quick musical taster of the evening. It will make you dance to a cocktail of genres from different and beautiful corners of the region.
I begin with one of my favourite tracks Azurite by ASADI, a phenomenal Persian trap producer and my first radio show guest. This is the perfect track to get you limbered up for what’s to come. We then land in Lebanon with Marcel Khalife’s infectious Happiness (Farah).
Heading to Palestine with three tracks by Sabreen (Set Alight). Sabreen started as a musical group in Jerusalem in 1980 and developed into a non-profit, community-based organization that specialises primarily in promoting music and combining it with different artistic expressions and forms. Followed by 47 Soul’s Intro to Shamstep, a Palestinian Jordanian electronic music group who are one of the main forces behind the Shamstep electronic dance music movement in the Middle East. Another huge talent from Palestine is DAM. Here I feature an addictive hip hop track by Mohmood Jrere, a member of DAM, the first Palestinian hip hop group.
Jumping to Turkey with one of my favourite tracks to play in the morning to get my day going, Neşe Karaböcek’s Yali Yali (dunkelbunt remix). Visiting Egypt with pop singer Tamer Hosny, along with a cover of the classic Alf Leyla Wa Leya originally by the notorious Oum Kolthoum and performed here by Shayma Elshayeb. My sets always include an element of nostalgia, whether it is through whole songs or elemental samples. Enjoy the remaining nostalgic tracks featured in this playlist that are timeless to my ears: Akhbarak Eyh by Maya Nasri, Akata by Assala, and Ya Rayah by Algeria’s legend Rachid Taha and Fenoh Hisham Abbas.
To introduce an opportunity for some dabke dancing, I have selected Shashkin by Omar Faruk Tekbilek and a percussion-only track called No Tabla, No Fun for anyone who fancies some serious hip movement and belly dance.
Finishing off with some of my favourite current artists that have been on replay for me - Naghib Shanbehzadeh, a wizard percussionist and queens of jazz, Natacha Atlas and Oum.
I hope you enjoyed this curated playlist celebrating different flavours from the Middle East and North Africa. I look forward to dancing with you in person soon.
Fierce Voices is presented in partnership with Arts canteen and AWAN Festival.