What you need to know about CMF, the first Arabic music festival in Paris

CAIRO – 2 June 2018: The Citybeats Music Festival will kick off on June 4 at Paris. The festival which is the first Arab music festival in Paris will host in its first edition three Arab Music stars: Tunisian Ghalia Benali, Egyptian Maryam Saleh and Palestinian-Jordanian singer El Farei.

The radio presenter in Mont Carlo radio station and the festival organizer Maysaa Issa said that the festival aims mainly to present distinctive musical models from different Arab countries to the European audience. That is why Issa chose these three different musical flavors, whose names were already engraved on the European musical field through their various singing tours. Each one of the three, as recounted by Issa, has established his own musical project.

“Saleh’s project is based on mixing the rock theme with Sheikh Emam style relying on her strong melodious voice, while Benali presents a mixture of folklore, improvisations and touches of jazz and finally the distinguished musical style of El Farei,” Issa explained.

Sheikh Imam is an Arab rebellious icon known for his satirical songs tackling societal issues of the working class. He is an Egyptian musician known for composing sarcastic poems written by late Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, also known as "El-Fagoumy".

Saleh started her artistic journey as a modernized version of Imam who inspired her since she was young. Her rebellious identity, artistic vision and acting skills are reflected in her performance to all Sheikh Imam’s songs.

Saleh has recomposed various songs for Imam as “Nixon Baba” (Father Nixon) and “Wah Ya Abdel Wadoud” (Oh Abd Alwadoud), among others, adding a modern music taste to them through speckled instruments.

One of the prominent merged music partnership included the cooperative efforts of Saleh and Palestinian music composer Tamer Abu Ghazaleh. Both musicians have incorporated their different music culture and background in to expressing one artistic rebellious production.


Album “Msh Baghany” (I Am Not singing), which was released in 2012 under the supervision of Abu Ghazaleh, was the first cooperation between him and Saleh while “Lekhfa” album was the latest cooperation between them.

They both have their own different cultural references and music knowledge which helped them invent special recreated music.

Their latest controversial album “Lekhfa” aimed to explore the culture of “Shaabi” (Popular music) that enabled Saleh, Abu Ghazaleh and Egyptian alternative musician Maurice Lauca to introduce an active picture for the current state of crowded Egyptian streets through different contradicting lyrics tackling complex inner human conflicts.

Benali started her artistic career path when she studied art in Belgium. She then found herself mesmerized with the multiculturalism of the Middle East.

She grew up listening to the voices of Umm Kulthum and other Arab legends, and she watched Arabic films that later contributed to her understanding of the multiple Arabic cultures and philosophies.

She embarked on her journey in music when she released her album in the late 1990s. Her album “Ghalia Benali Sings Umm Kulthum”, released in 2010, attracted various Arabic youth to enjoy the classical strong lyrics of the famous Umm Kulthum and to discover Benali.