Maryam Saleh and Zeid Hamdan

Arab trip-hop and electro-pop music by Egyptian singer and songwriter Maryam Saleh & Lebanese music producer Zeid Hamdan in Paradiso (Upstairs Hall) on Thursday, May 9th, 2024. The duo delivers folkloric songs and compositions, often tinged with sarcasm, defying convention. They prompt listeners to unravel their hidden meanings with poignant political and social content, drawing from musical traditional elements to offer surprising modern twists and interpretations. Their rendition is inspired by Sheikh Imam and Ahmed Fouad Negm work and serves as a poignant reminder of a bygone era of revolutionary folk music.

Maryam Saleh habitually pushes the boundaries of Arabic music. A luminary of Egypt’s alternative music scene, she delivers a savvy mix of old and new, infusing shaabi and folk styles with innovative techniques and fearless personality. Saleh is a singer, composer, actress, and poet. As the teenage frontwoman of the band Gawaz Safar in the early 2000s, she revived the decades-old protest songs of folk legend Sheikh Imam for a younger audience. She broke new creative ground with the dizzying electro beats and sarcastic poetry of 2015’s Halawella, a critically-acclaimed album she recorded with Soap Kills’ Zeid Hamdan.

Zeid Hamdan is a Lebanese music producer and composer, born in Beirut in 1976, standing for the last few decades as the creative force behind several captivating indie bands originating from the SWANA region, such as Soapkills, Bedouin Burger, the Beit Project, Hiba Mansouri, Zeid and the Wings, The New Government, Maryam Saleh, Maii and Zeid, Kandia Kora (Guinean Pop) La Guinee Kazamada (Arabic electro pop) and more. Successfully blending his Middle Eastern roots with a spectrum of influences including punk, electro, and folk. On top of producing his own records , Zeid Hamdan has also been scoring for Films.

This program is produced by RAqS Experiences | co-produced by Stichting Pera | co-hosted by Paradiso Amsterdam | funded by Amsterdam fonds voor de Kunst – AFK