Spotify launches in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) taking in 13 new countries and providing Arabic content tailored to local tastes. The new service includes Arabic classical and pop to gritty folk, funk, and hip-hop sounds. In addition to Spotify’s entire catalogue of over 40 million tracks and billions of playlists there is a library of brand new, fully curated playlists available exclusively for listeners in the MENA region. From Today’s Top Arabic Hits (أفضل الاغاني العربية) – the finest and freshest hits from the Arabic world – to Feel Good Arabic Hits (احساس جديد) and dance-floor favourites on Arabic EDM (بالعربي) music fans in MENA can enjoy artists, albums, and songs across every genre for every mood and moment, all in a fully localized Arabic Spotify service with right-to-left text alignment.
The 13 new countries expand Spotify’s worldwide reach to 78 in total. Spotify are making much of this new content available to the many millions of lovers of Arab music living outside the MENA region. They are also launching a globally accessible Arab hub as part of its Global Cultures initiative, which will connect the music and culture of the Middle East with listeners everywhere.
Suhel Nafar, Spotify’s Senior Arab Music & Culture Editor said, “As an artist who lived in the Middle East for 30 years, toured the world as a musician and now lives in the U.S., I’ve experienced the differences and similarities between Arabs around the world—and how close they are, even if they’re from different places. The Arab hub provides the unique platform that brings the full spectrum of Arab culture and creativity, past and present. Celebrating the different dialects, styles, flavors, and sounds.”
Listeners worldwide can explore the Arab hub to find playlists such as Yalla Araby (“Let’s go Arabic” – hits from the Middle East and North Africa); Women Wa Bas (Arab female artists); ’90s Arabic Hits (big at Arab wedding parties); and Arab Indie (emerging Arabic tracks and artists). More playlists highlight essential hits from various regions and cultures, like Egyptian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Moroccan, and Syrian.
Nafar continues, “I wanted to focus on moods and moments that are important in Arab culture and history. Stargazer is dedicated to the Arabs who originally influenced astronomy. Many people don’t know that many stars have Arabic names. ‘Altair,’ shortened from ‘Nisr Al-Tair,’ means ‘the flying eagle’ in Arabic. People can sit back and relax to the instrumental playlist, which features various genres of classical music and maqamat (traditional melodies), and enjoy a piece of our culture.”
From the Arab hub, listeners can also navigate to Arab X, which features crossovers of songs by artists and producers from the Arab diaspora, whether Lebanese-Colombian artist Shakira or Moroccan-American rapper French Montana. Newcomers to Arabic music should start with Yalla Araby or Mahraganat, also known as electro-shaabi. (“When you walk in New York past the halal carts, those are the songs they will be playing,” Nafar says.)
