Saudi Arabia

Artists from Saudi Arabia, from the ardah and samri traditions and Khaleeji song to a young electronic and rap scene.

The kingdom’s traditional music splits roughly along its geography. Najd gave the samri, sung poetry driven by hand drums, and the ardah, the sword-and-drum line dance that became the national one. The Hejaz, where Mecca and Jeddah absorbed pilgrims and traders from across the Muslim world for centuries, developed something more cosmopolitan, and its singers were household names across the peninsula long before the country had a music industry to speak of.

Public performance was heavily restricted for decades, which pushed everything else out of sight. The rock, metal and hip hop scenes in Jeddah and Riyadh spent years in private compounds, on forums and in cars, and never stopped.

Since the end of the 2010s a licensed live circuit and some very large festivals have appeared in a hurry, and the distance between an underground scene and a state-backed entertainment sector is now one of the more interesting tensions in Gulf music.