diaspora

Five Years After Her Debut, Inez Drops Sophomore Album Farasha

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

Arabic-ish: The Strange Grief of Half-Speaking Your Mother Tongue

Arabic-ish

Arabic-ish: The Strange Grief of Half-Speaking Your Mother Tongue

An intimate essay on the strange grief of understanding your mother tongue, but never feeling fluent enough to truly call it your own.

By Yasmina Bitar

(Sub)Culture, (Sub)Culture Features, Exclusive

The Arab Comedians Reshaping Paris’s Stand-Up Scene

Across three generations, Arab comedians have evolved from self-censoring outsiders into a driving force behind Paris's stand-up boom.

(Sub)Culture, (Sub)Culture Features

Resistance Needs Recovery, Mazikaa is Building the Space for Both

From intimate living rooms to major stadiums, the Amkieh sisters are building a new cultural home for the SWANA community with Mazikaa.

FEATURES

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.

FEATURES

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.

Exclusive, FEATURES

Neon Echoes in Exile: How Iran’s Diaspora Pop Thrived in Tehrangeles

Tehrangeles Vice traces how exiled Iranian musicians in 1980s LA transformed nostalgia, loss, and freedom into lasting pop culture.

(Sub)Culture, (Sub)Culture Features, Exclusive

For Iraqis, The Rise Of “Shaabi” Music On TikTok Drives Diasporic And Generational Divides

As Iraqi “shaabi” music goes viral on TikTok, its relationship with local and diaspora Iraqis comes into focus.

(Sub)Culture, (Sub)Culture Features, CULTURE, Exclusive, FEATURES

Diaspora Dance Spaces Provide Healing in Times of Grief. For Some, They Also Raise Questions.

A growing global MENA party scene has become a vital space for some diaspora to find community and solidarity, even as it draws scrutiny over its political role.

(Sub)Culture, (Sub)Culture Features, CULTURE, Exclusive, FEATURES

Meet Between East, the Los Angeles-Based Company Bringing Together Creatives From the Middle East and North Africa and its Diaspora

At its annual In Between festival, tastemakers from across creative scenes talked about the thriving representation of the MENA region.