music

The melody of healing: music’s journey from art to therapy

While the science is still catching up in many areas, music therapy is known to have a range of psychological and physiological benefits.

Mohammed Mansour 04 October 2025

Al Majalla/Axel Rangel Garcia

How music helps bring hope and healing to Gaza's war-torn

Palestinians have always clung to their traditions. Music is one of them. Amid the death and destruction, Gaza's displaced find solace in songs of resistance and steadfastness.

Houssam Marouf 23 January 2025

K-pop girl group New Jeans perform during “2024 Korea On Stage — New Generation," held at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul on May 21, 2024.

Anthony WALLACE / AFP

Why South Korean pop culture rocks and North Korea’s does not

Dictatorship stifles creativity and joyrn

The Economist 04 June 2024

The fanfare surrounding Qabbani's musical at the Chicago World's Fair boosted its popularity among the American art and theatre elite and made a star out of performer Malaka Surur.

The oldest Arabic music recording sits in Harvard's Peabody museum

Cut 130 years ago, these records demonstrate the early interaction between Arab art and American audiences which left a lasting impact on both worlds.

Taissier Khalaf 03 March 2024

People attend the Soundstorm music festival, organized by MDLBEAST, in Banban on the outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh on December 16, 2021.

AFP

Music in Saudi Arabia tunes into a new and modernised future

A new generation of young people is finding training and work in a refreshed and revitalised cultural scene, making their presence felt while also staying true to important heritage

Nawwar Jabbour 29 June 2023

Despite mention of Umm Kulthum, the Rolling Stone list reveals cultural shortcomings of a title craving influence.

Eduardo Ramon

Arab culture still unseen by the West despite Umm Kulthum’s recognition by Rolling Stone

Despite mention of Umm Kulthum, the Rolling Stone list reveals cultural shortcomings of a title craving influence

Shadi Alaa Aldin 04 February 2023

Egyptian Jazz Projekt band performing at the American University in Cairo’s Cultural Center. Credit: Salwa Samir

Band Revives 1950s Egyptian Songs in Jazzy Way

The London-based Egyptian Jazz Projekt band founded by Ahmed Harfoush has recently held a concert in downtown Cairo. Majalla attended the event and interviewed Harfoush about his band’s mission. …

Salwa Samir 02 September 2022

Noha Gamal teaching Zumba to a number of young people. (Photo Courtesy of Noha Gamal)

Dancing to the Tunes of Willpower

Although she is now 25, Noha Gamal has experienced many painful lessons in life that taught her a lot. Gamal is the first blind Zumba instructor in Egypt. Her story can be an inspiration to many. …

Salwa Samir 19 March 2022

“Of Lovers”

On the premises of one of the most enchanting Mamluk Palaces, songs of Star of the Orient Om Kulthoum, intertwined with pearls of wisdom from Al Imam Ibn Hazm Al Andalusi (7 November 994 – 15 August…

Amira el Noshokaty 13 August 2021

The group of rappers who spoke to The Diplomat. Left to right: Arif Farooq, Ahmer Javaid, Tufail Nazir, Syed Arslan, and SXR. (TNS)

The Sound of ‘Conscious’ Rap

They may look like any other group of young men chilling out on a river bank. But these young men in a huddle are scripting the revival of rap music in Indian-administered Kashmir. The narrow park…

Muheet Ul Islam 05 June 2021

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How Trump reshaped the world

03 November 2025

Al Majalla examines key developments in the US and across the globe less than a year into Trump's second presidential term

Al Majalla - London

AFP-Reuters-Eduardo Ramon

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Zohran Mamdani becomes first Muslim mayor of New York

04 November 2025

The 34-year-old socialist's win is a seismic development, proving that tax rises for the rich to fund social programmes, and unwavering advocacy for Palestinian rights, are politically viable stances

Tarek Rashed

Details of the remains of Palestinians released by Israel are shown on a screen in order to help family members to identify their relatives, at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 18 October 2025.

OMAR AL-QATTAA / AFP

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Closure denied: the agonising search for Gaza's vanished

05 November 2025

Those who are able to bury their dead are among the lucky. For others, not knowing the fate of their missing loved ones or receiving mutilated corpses impossible to identify adds insult to injury.

Salem Al Rayyes