Leih Bedari came at a time when Zein Majali was flirting with creating a pop avatar that goes by Sukkar. In 2019 Sukkar was interested in repurposing saccharine Arab pop songs and fusing them with hyper mechanic sounds that were popular at the time. Ruby’s hard hitting track was then re-recorded with heavy auto-tune and abrasive percussion to reflect the dissociative synthetic consumer cultural identity that’s seeped into our everyday lives.

Leih Beydari  ليه بيداري

Switching between different versions of yourself just to get by is a must in Egypt. Your posture shifts from one place to another; your speech, clothes, and cadence all adapt depending on the setting and other people’s profiles. Adaptation thus becomes non-negotiable. 100 Copies reflect on being in a constant state of shape-shifting in order to survive in such an aggressive environment. The song continuously changes its identity, bending genres as a reflection of that survival instinct.

Lyrically, it draws an analogy to a pack of 100 paper copies — every day, the songwriter opens a new one. She emphasizes how essential shape-shifting and discretion are in navigating Egyptian society, carefully choosing which sides of her personality to reveal and which to keep hidden.

Written by Dalia Omran
Produced & Mixed by Mohammad Hijazi at Obsolete Studio
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC.
Illustrator - Huanhuan Wang 

100 Noskha ١٠٠ نسخة

Old days whisper but no longer wound. It explores the unexpected companionship found in oppression, not as a force of ruin, but as a quiet shadow that walks alongside.

Written by Sandy Chamoun
Produced & Mixed by Mohammad Hijazi at Obsolete Studio
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC.
Illustrator - Huanhuan Wang 

Mathawi مثواي

Bala Raj3a “Good Riddance” is built from instinctive improvisation and raw takes, shaped by Liliane’s signature hands-on, synthesis-led production.

Written by Liliane Chlela
Produced by Liliane Chlela
Mixed by Dominic Clare at Declared Sound
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC.

Bala Raj3a بلا رجعة

"Al Ghaith / الغَيْث " — “The Rain” — is the opening track from”Al Anhar Wal Oyoon / الأَنْهارِ والعُيُونٌ”, born from a remote collaboration between Glasgow-based Yemeni artist Noha "Intibint" and Amman-based Jordanian-Palestinian electronic musician and record producer Mohammad Hijazi. The track navigates parallel geographies of loss and estrangement, channeling personal and collective memories shaped by interruption and fracture into a sonic dialogue that transcends mere protest—it is music from the aftermath, composed in a time when the rupture has already happened, and the betrayal is memory rather than forecast.
 
Rain, central to the song, is not simply meteorological—it symbolizes relief withheld and mercy delayed, embodying longing for return and recognition in spaces where both rarely arrive. Al Ghaith is both prayer and echo, calling for renewal while mourning its absence. Rain here becomes a metaphor for everything that might heal.
 
Sonically, "Al Ghaith" evolves from ominous electronic drones resembling distant sirens into a spacious groove inspired by Egyptian Baladi rhythm patterns, accented by synthesized glissandi and tonal textures that feel hyper-digital yet equally organic and analog. Fractured percussion and a growling bass stand in as a second verse, prefaced by a chorus shaped by layered detuned sawtooth chords, saturating the audio spectrum and pushing the song toward emotional peaks. Intibint’s Vocals, heavily processed, recontextualize fragments from Fuad Al-Kibsi’s classic Yemeni love song “ما السبب” (Ma al-Sabab, meaning “What is the reason?”), transforming intimate yearning into broader reflections on exile and systemic betrayal. What was once a love song becomes a lament; the soul addressed in the lyrics is both beloved and betrayed—personal and political.
 
The rhythmic heartbeat is an electronically reimagined Yemeni Barʿa—a ceremonial war-dance rhythm traditionally performed on marfaʿ and tāsah kettledrums. Hijazi integrates this foundation with Southern Iranian Bandari rhythms and Iraqi Hiwā snare patterns, culminating in an overdriven climax evocative of Zār ritual percussion, traditionally associated with trance and spiritual summoning during Shabwani Sharḥ ceremonies. Intibint’s repeated invocation "رشي رشي يا مطر" ("Fall, fall, rain") encapsulates the essence of invocation—rain as summoned mercy, an unanswered prayer.
 
Throughout the composition, an interplay between closeness and detachment emerges. The music expands and retracts; vocals drift, then harden. The lyrics oscillate between tenderness and disillusionment, never resolving their duality. The boundary between individual grief and collective erasure collapses: what's mourned is not merely a person or place, but continuity itself—a people, a possibility. "Al Ghaith / الغَيْث " — “The Rain” —  appears not as relief but as withheld mercy.

Written by Noha “Intibint” and Mohammad Hijazi
Produced and Mixed by Mohammad Hijazi at Obsolete Studio, Amman, Jordan
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC
Contains lyrics from “Ma al-Sabab,” written by Ahmed Suleiman and performed by Fuad Al-Kibsi

Al Ghaith الغَيْث

The song Fel Matar features artist Charls Ava's poetic prayerful words translated to Arabic by producer Machine Eat Man who also provided the backdrop of ambient vibes using analog synthesizers. At times it floats and at times almost jazz-like beats come in and out of the bedrock of the track whilst topped with swirling meditative vocals that even lend to a sort of mellowed out trip-hop feel. A prayer to finding the light through darkness and persevering through difficulties when senses are diminished, it's a song for the soul.

Written by Charlene Ibrahim "Charls Ava" 
Produced by Machine Eat Man 
Mixed by Kieran Kelly, Buddy Project, NYC
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC.

Fel Matarفي المطر

In Bint Mbareh's first released work, she explores the vocalization as a tool to think about breathing. The first part of the song accelerates, while the voice destabilizes the predictability offered in songwriting in general. Bint Mbareh works with her voice and the voices of others, particularly non-singers, regularly. But producing it has posed a question of agency, in a sea of male producers asking "Can I sample it??? It's so nice!", of recalling one's own breath, and of accepting whimsical and deeply unserious sounds alongside literal and not figurative struggles in breathtaking.

Written by Dina Amro "Bint Mbareh"
Advisor Nicolas Jaar 
Mixed by Dominic Clare at Declared Sound 
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC.

Masbaha Fi Qa'a Al Masbah مسبحة في قاع المسبح

A Jordanian record label, dedicated to amplifying the voices of experimental Arab womxn artists.

Established in 2019, Malakat was the first label of its kind in the SWANA region, Through its unique focus on experimental music, Malakat Records is reshaping the Arab music landscape, creating new opportunities for artists to explore their craft and reach global audiences.

Malakat Records

Popular tracks