Canada

Arab and Middle Eastern artists based in Canada, mostly in Montreal and Toronto.

Canada’s Arab communities are long established and heavily Levantine. Montreal in particular holds one of the largest Lebanese populations outside Lebanon, and its francophone setting makes it an easy landing point for Lebanese, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian musicians who already work in French.

The result is a scene where an artist can move between Arabic, French and English inside one set and lose nobody in the room. It leans toward singer-songwriter, jazz and electronic work rather than the pop industry, for the simple reason that the industry is still in Beirut and Cairo.

Everyone on this page is also listed under the country they came from.