Rolling Stone MENA - Music, Film, TV and Political News Coverage

Cult Classic

Maha’s Orkos: The Lost Record That Took Four Decades to Find Its Time

Maha’s 1979 debut Orkos fused funk, disco, soft rock and jazz with Arabic roots, then vanished. Decades later, it became a cult classic.

By Ahmed Amin

Diasporic Gaze

The Diasporic Gaze: Aesthetics of a Remigrating Egyptian Identity

As more Egyptians born and raised abroad move back home, they carry with them a diasporic gaze that’s easy to detect and hard to ignore.

By Amuna Wagner

Playing Both Sides

TUL8TE Meets the Pop Machine Halfway on Sadeek El Bernameg

TUL8TE spends Sadeek El Bernameg making the uneasy argument that hit-making and artistic integrity don’t have to be at odds.

By Ammar Manla Hasan

Tough Love

Tough Love: Shabjdeed, Saint Levant, and Rejecting the Perfect Victim

Shabjdeed’s Saint Levant diss exposes the pressure on Palestinians to remain legible and dignified “perfect victims.”

By Othman Shahin

The Waiting Sentence

The Waiting Sentence: Four Stories from the UK’s Asylum System

The UK asylum system keeps young people waiting for papers, work, school, and a future. These four refused to let waiting become their life.

By Yasmina Bitar

Qatar

The Venture Capital Firm That Saw Qatar’s Future First

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

Case Study

INSEAD, The ‘Business School for the World’ is Facing a Reckoning Over Gaza

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

Encore Album

On Habeitek, Amr Diab Feeds Gen Z the Nostalgia They Crave

On Habeitek, Amr Diab returns to his ’90s and ’00s sound, meeting Gen Z’s growing appetite for Y2K nostalgia.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

MUSIC

The Killer Dueling Pianos Brings Rock Star Energy to Live Events

One might not typically expect to find rock stars performing at a dueling piano show. Yet Ryan Bueter and Donny…

By Chris Gallagher

Butterfly Effect

Five Years After Her Debut, Inez Drops Sophomore Album Farasha

Five years after her debut, Inez returns with Farasha, an ambitious album embracing Arab sounds and emotional vulnerability.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

Gateway Pop

Michael Hakim on Diaspora Pop as a Gateway to Arabic Music

Michael Hakim isn’t seeking validation from the Arab world. He’s building AR&B, a new sound shaped by the Arab diaspora’s hybrid identity.

By Sumayya Tobah

The Ambassador's Dilemma

Arab Diasporic Music and The Uneasy Performance of Home

Under the weight of representation and identity politics, Salma Mousa examines the Arab diaspora’s longing for a home that doesn’t exist.

By Salma Mousa

A Syrian Nuremberg

Bashar and Maher Al Assad Sentenced to Death in Absentia

Bashar and Maher Al Assad have been sentenced to death in absentia by a Damascus court for crimes committed under the Assad regime.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

A Closer Lens

A Closer Way of Seeing The Yazidis

After years of trust-building among the Yazidis, photojournalist Emily Garthwaite documents their long journey home after genocide and war.

By Ahmed Amin

Timeline

The Only Constant of the Iran War Is Trump Saying It’s About to End

An incomplete timeline of the president’s months-long insistence that the conflict is almost over.

By Jack Crosbie Nikki McCann Ramirez and Ryan Bort

Bypassing Hormuz

The UAE’s Hormuz-Bypassing Pipeline Is Half Done, Due in 2027

The UAE is halfway through building a pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, with plans to double crude exports by 2027.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

Open Wound

Syria Arrests Tadamon Massacre Identified Perpetrator Amjad Youssef

More than a decade after the Tadamon massacre, Syrian authorities say Amjad Youssef, long linked to the killings, is now in custody.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

Youtube to Netflix

AlKhalat+: Saudi Absurdist Comedy’s Journey from YouTube to Netflix

Over the past few years, a wave of Saudi absurdist comedy has been migrating from YouTube to streaming. AlKhalat+ is its latest dispatch.

By Youssef Ali

Youtube to Netflix

الخلاط+: آخر محطة في رحلة الكوميديا الغرائبية السعودية من يوتيوب إلى نتفلكس

خلال السنوات الأخيرة، بدأ تيّار من الكوميديا الغرائبية السعودية بمغادرة موطنه على يوتيوب باتجاه منصات البث، الخلاط+ آخر إصدارات هذا التيار.

By Youssef Ali

Too Dumb To Fail

Too Dumb to Fail: The Game and the TikTok-ification of Arab TV

The smartest move in Arab TV’s recent history was to go completely dumb. Five seasons in, The Game is still proving it right.

By Ammar Manla Hasan

Binge Therapy

Binge Therapy: 24 Titles to Stream in MENA This April

Rolling Stone MENA’s monthly streaming guide to the films, TV series, and documentaries available across platforms in the MENA region.

By Yasmina Bitar

Hustlers & High Ratings

Heroes, Hustlers, and High Ratings: The Mohamed Samy Era of Egyptian TV

A look back at fifteen years of Mohamed Samy’s directing during the most prolific production era in Egyptian television.

By Youssef Ali

Appropriately Appropriated

In Defense of Celebrities Wearing Ancient Iranian Symbols

From IShowSpeed to Johnny Depp, the farvahar keeps appearing in pop culture. Is it appropriation or appreciation?

By Joobin Bekhrad

(Sub)Culture

Musly Club connects Muslim founders, creatives, and cultural tastemakers worldwide

Forget, for a moment, everything you imagine when you think of a private members’ club, and meet Musly Club, the…

By Ethan Stone

(diss)Course Analysis

(diss)Course Analysis: Diss Tracks as Cultural Reckoning

Salma Moussa argues the diss track’s best case is a demand for accountability within a community of trust.

By Salma Mousa

Love It, Set It Free

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi: If You Love a Collection, Set It Free

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi sees himself as an art custodian, not an owner, and believes sharing Arab art is the best way to protect it.

By Sydney Miranda

(Sub)Culture

Alessio Vinassa Doesn’t Believe Pressure Builds Character. He Believes It Reveals It.

Success has a way of creating certainty. When business is growing, opportunities multiply, headlines become more flattering and confidence begins…

By Jenna Amy

TECH

The Story of Tag Markets: From a 2023 Launch to a Global Forex Brokerage

Every global company begins with a decision about what it believes the market has accepted for too long. For Tag…

By Jenna Amy

TECH

How an AI Startup Co-Founded by a Formula 1 Driver Hit $9M ARR in Just 8 Weeks

Jack Doohan has always been used to life in the fastest of lanes. Speed has been the factor that has…

By Anthony Burr

TECH

Live Auction Shopping is Pulling Online Buying Into Real Time

Timed bidding and limited windows are changing how purchases unfold Online shopping doesn’t always happen in a straight line anymore.…

By Ethan Stone

TECH

Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum’s Nawa Technologies Aim to Export UAE’s Digital Governance Model

The Dubai-based holding company is fostering partnerships with tech to leverage proof of concept for Gulf state capacity-building in frontier…

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

The Ibtihal Effect

Microsoft Restructures Israel Operations Amid Military Use Allegations

Microsoft places Israel unit under French oversight amid investigation into Azure-linked military use against Palestinians.

By Rolling Stone MENA Staff

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