Band 47SOUL Defies Contentious Middle Eastern Borders With Its Political Music and Lyrics
The members of 47SOUL came together to play traditional Arabic street music with an electronic twist and a warm message to their audience that they "don't care where you're from," so long as you listen.
Now, when divisions in the Middle East and beyond seem increasingly impossible to bridge, 47SOUL’s inclusive music is spreading around the globe as the band prepares to release an album in June.
Made up of musicians from disparate parts of the world, the members of 47SOUL came together about two years ago to play traditional Arabic street music with an electronic twist and a warm message to their audience that they “don’t care where you’re from,” so long as you listen. While some of the band members can’t even visit one another’s home countries, they’re adamant that music does not understand passports or nation-state delineations.
Watch the BBC clip on 47SOUL, here.
BBC News:
47SOUL are winning fans all over the Middle East, and poised to take the world by storm with their energetic sound and politically engaged lyrics…they have been booked for UK festivals Womad and Glastonbury in June 2015.
Formed in 2013 in Amman, Jordan, the members come from different countries and hold different travel documents and passports.
Travel restrictions and political instability stop them from coming together in their home region to perform and rehearse, forcing them to seek opportunities abroad.
The sound of 47SOUL is rooted in Arabic dabke: the street music of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. But the five piece are taking it into the future with analogue synthesizers and electronic beats, and hyped verses from the four singers.
—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata
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