What comes after the "Oriental" hype?

The Professionalization of Middle Eastern and North African Music Scenes

Jamila Al-Yousef
Rasha Hilwi
Habib Achour
  • event type:WOMEX 18 Conference Session
  • date:25 Oct 2018
  • time:16:30 - 18:00
  • city/area:Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  • venue:Network Room 1, INFECAR
  • country:Spain
  • event posted by:Piranha Arts

Links

Chaired by Jamila Al-Yousef (Germany), Arab* Underground;
with Rasha Hilwi (Palestine/Germany), freelancer;
Shermine Sawalha, Malahi Entertainment;
Sama Abdulhadi (Palestine/France), Awyav Publishing;
Habib Achour (Tunisia/France), SACEM

Since the Arab uprisings, there has been unrelenting hype surrounding hybrid music from the MENA region. Concurrently, cultural activists attempt to build up local music structures, mostly in a DIY process without any external support. There are various aspects required to develop local music industries and to better position this music on the world market. But what would postcolonially sensitive collaborations look like that would enable a mutual learning process?

In this panel, we want to give an overview of the musical developments in the MENA region of the past seven years. Specifically, we discuss Palestinian Music Scene examples of local-international collaboration and want to exchange ideas on how players of the global music industries can support building up sustainable and professional music markets in the MENA region and influence geopolitical factors.

After the panel discussion we will open up to further exchange with music players from the region in a round table session.