Dubai Opera to host Dxbeats music festival

CAIRO – 31 March 2018: Dubai Opera will host Dxbeats, its first ever Arab Music Festival, next month, which will see various popular Arab musicians performing genres ranging from jazz to reggaeton.

Several of the musicians participating include Egyptian group The Sharmoofers, groundbreaking Lebanese indie star Yasmine Hamdan, urban Moroccan pop star Manal, rock band The Wanton Bishops and UAE hip-hop group Moh Flow. Dubai Opera will turn its auditorium into a concert hall with the ability to accommodate over 3,000 guests. These musicians will all come together on the stage to perform for five hours.

The Sharmoofers is a musical project consisting of lead singer Ahmed Bahaa, Moe El-3rkan and Ezz Shahwan. Starting off online, the band’s music has managed to reach millions, and they have more than 588,000 followers on Facebook and are growing more popular on social media. They first performed on Bassem Youssef's “Bernameg” show in 2013 and then performed live at a concert in Al-Azhar Park in 2014.



Yasmine Hamdan is a darling of contemporary Lebanese music, and indeed much of the Arab world. Now based in Paris, she has been hailed as an icon of the underground Arab music scene since her time working as part of the Soap Kills duo, which was one of the first indie/electronic bands in the Middle East. She has also worked as an actress and has performed all over the world, including in Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa.



Manal is a fiery Moroccan singer who is all about challenging convention in the Arab world and shaking things up wherever she can. She is best known for her song "Taj", a powerful track released just this year that calls for the liberation of women oppressed all around the world, which has already amassed well over 6 million hits.



The Wanton Bishops is an internationally acclaimed Lebanese rock band founded by Beirut-born Nader Mansour. After the runaway success of their debut album "Sleep With The Lights On", they've managed to open for names as big as Guns N' Roses, The Who and Lana Del Ray.



Last, but not least, there is Moh Flow, a rapper with roots all over the Arab world. He was born in Syria, raised in Abu Dhabi and currently operates in Dubai. Rapping since 2005, Moh Flow released his first full album in 2016.