Mideast“I grew up in Bahrain listening to local independent hip-hop, folk, and alternative rock,” recalls activist Esra’a Al Shafei. This music provided a window for Al Shafei into some of the region’s most pressing social issues, from the civil rights of ethnic and religious minorities to the need for greater gender equality. Inspired to take action, she first sought to voice her concerns through journalism and blogging. Ultimately, however, she returned to the expressive potency of music, founding the

words Joobin Bekhrad

Ruba Shamshoum, one of the platform’s featured artists, is a Palestinian musician who currently lives in Dublin. Her music weaves together elements of jazz and Middle Eastern and Arabic music.

a global spotlight for underground music from the middle east Tunes

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plethora of songs hosted on its servers, which range from regional styles like raï to more recognisable ones like rock, punk, metal, and funk, and everything in between. The songs of Jordanian songstress Haifa Kemal, for example, combine Fairuz-esque vocals, ambient soundscapes, and delicate traditional instrumentation. Similarly, Iranian band Koochneshin artfully blends rock and roll, jazz, and hip-hop styles in its consistently vibrant numbers, while Kuwait’s Reham evokes the spirits of Hindi Zahra and Patti Smith in a style difficult to categorise, and wholly her own. It’s usually true that something for everyone, as they say, is something for no one; but the adage doesn’t seem to hold in the case of Mideast Tunes. The prospect of being able to skip from subversive Persian alt-rock to gritty Algerian grooves and Libyan death metal in one’s pyjamas is intriguing —and highly addictive— to say the least.

streaming music platform Mideast Tunes in 2010. (An added benefit of music, observes Al Shafei, is the greater difficulty that audio files pose to monitoring and censorship efforts.) Free to access for both artists and listeners, Mideast Tunes offers a treasure trove of underground goodies from not only the ‘Middle East’ —to use the putative, foreign-imposed term for this complex and diverse region— but also North Africa, parts of Central and South Asia, and elsewhere.

While names like Omar Souleyman, Yasmine Hamdan, and Mashrou’ Leila might need little introduction to world music listeners in the West, the case isn’t the same for many of the two-thousand-odd artists Mideast Tunes showcases. The focus is on emerging talent, particularly younger acts with something to say about their societies. ‘Music for social change’ is how the platform describes the

Mideast Tunes’s knack for bridging boundaries stems, at least in part, from the nature of its founder’s native Bahrain. Caught between Iran on its right and Saudi Arabia on its left in the Persian Gulf, it has long been a cultural, linguistic, and religious crossroads, making it unique vis-à-vis some of its other Arab neighbours. Similarly, Mideast Tunes’s list of countries includes Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, meaning that it doesn’t limit itself to the Arab, or even Arabic-speaking, world; nor is it focused on any particular

ethnicity or language. In bringing together such a diverse group of countries, it defies animosities past and present — after all, Yemen and Saudi Arabia aren’t exactly bedfellows, and little needs to be said about the latter’s relationship with Iran. At the same time, however, the platform is far from ideologically neutral. Israel is conspicuously absent from the list, whilst Kurdistan appears as an independent nation.

Few geopolitical regions are as thorny and complex as the Middle East. Fraught with tensions between peoples of different ethnicities, histories, cultures, and religions, who too often accentuate the contrasts between each other —and are themselves exploited by foreign powers who harness such differences for their own ends— anyone dealing with this vast stretch of land as a subject needs a tough skin, a consummate sensitivity to regional issues, and the patience of a saint. Take it from one who’s been there and done that. As the editor of a publication dealing with Sa

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The prospect of being able to skip from subversive Persian alt-rock to gritty Algerian grooves and Libyan

death metal in one’s pyjamas is intriguing — and highly addictive

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contemporary Middle Eastern arts and culture, Reorient Magazine, yours truly has seen his share of hate mail, social media invective, and followers disillusioned to learn that he doesn’t identify with their particular worldview. As such, the author can fully appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears that must have gone into running, for the past eight years, what has become the largest online platform for independent music from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The region’s sheer complexity aside, running Mideast Tunes presents no shortage of logistical and financial challenges. The storage of over 11,000 songs — which can be accessed offline via the platform’s app, a particularly crucial feature for areas without reliable internet — comes at a hefty price, as does continuously updating the Mideast Tunes app and website and providing support for the many acts the platform works with. Securing funding was impossible, says Al Shafei, noting that “foreign donors often shy away from contributing to projects born in the MENA [region], preferring instead to bankroll Western-based [ones] that are often removed from our daily realities

and struggles.” Procuring funding from within the region is rarely a viable alternative either, as I myself have found with Reorient; local organisations are generally more interested in furthering the causes and agendas of their own nations, rather than those of the broader MENA region. Mideast Tunes’s project is all the more impressive when one considers that it runs mainly on support from its artists, listeners, and other volunteers.

In the age of Spotify and iTunes, endeavours like Mideast Tunes may seem minuscule in comparison. In its own way, however, Mideast Tunes is a more ambitious project than either of these digital behemoths. It seeks to empower youth by giving them a voice in places where they are often silenced, or where it’s frustratingly difficult to rise above the din of the mainstream. For Al Shafei, the amplification of these voices has a twofold significance: helping to revitalise local communities struggling against violence, while also challenging simplistic foreign narratives of the MENA. Mainstream media often plays into popularly held prejudices, she observes, which in turn encourages conflict to flourish. The artists of Mideast Tunes “humanise our populations,” Al Shafei notes, “and appeal to those with the votes and the voices to influence the leaders behind the geopolitical curtain.”

Kabreet (active from 2016-17), formed by Yemini artist Ibi Ibrahim and German journalist Hanno Stecher, combined Arabic lyrics with percussion-based and synth-heavy sounds

3 questions with founder Esra’a Al ShafeiPS: What was the biggest challenge in designing a platform that works for artists across the MENA, as well as listeners from all over the world?

EA: The biggest challenge was by far lack of financial resources. Securing funding in our region was impossible due to the controversial nature of our work, and foreign donors often shied away from contributing to projects born in the MENA. It was due largely to the support of our artists, our listeners, and our team that Mideast Tunes was able to be successful despite the obstacles before it.

PS: What’s your vision for the future of Mideast Tunes?

EA: We want Mideast Tunes to have a global audience so our artists can reach as many listeners as possible. Music is an important tool for humanising our populations and counteracting dominant narratives of the MENA. Many people from outside the region could benefit from hearing the authentic perspectives of the artists on Mideast Tunes. I believe they have the power to change a lot of minds. We also want to assist our musicians

in sustaining their future productions through our platform. We’re going to do this by building various features into the site that allows listeners to contribute to artists whose music they enjoy, and enable artists to solicit support directly from their Mideast Tunes fanbase.

PS: What’s currently in your playlist?

EA: I’m enjoying the alternative rock of Syrian band Khebez Dawle. Khebez Dawla’s song ‘Ayesh’ begins with a heart-wrenching question familiar to many Syrians today: “Are you still alive?” I find the direness yet banality of that question so poignant: the very question of survival in a state of perpetual war. It’s an inspiring example of Syrians affirming their resilience within contexts that seek to destroy them.

I’m also enjoying Malika Zarra, a Moroccan jazz artist who switches from Tamazight to Arabic to French in her songs, which sound very fresh and layered.

Finally, any song by Egyptian artist Youssra El Hawary. I’m always inspired by the awareness and social critique she delivers through the cheery vessel of indie pop.

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