Bnat el Houariyat (Marrakech, Morocco) is an all-women 7 piece Moroccan Chaabi/Houara women's music and dance group lead by Khadija el Warzazia, a Marrakech native born within the laâbat tradition. “Laâbat" are women percussive groups who perform celebratory Chaabi songs at weddings and female gatherings who are known to lament and mock the common struggles of life. Khadija, from a gnawa family in Marrakech, uniquely threads in elements of Gnawa in her performance alongside her powerful band of percussionists and vocalists. An active group for over 20 years, Bnat el Houariyat has mentored the younger generation with bringing on New York based dancer Esraa Warda in 2017. They represent the power of North African women and intergenerational transmission - giving audiences permission to be free without inhibitions.

Noura Mint Seymali is Mauritania's defining artist on the international stage. Drawing on the timeless repertoire of the Moorish griot, a hereditary class of musical poet / historians, her band conjures "a full blown sandstorm of hypnotic grooves, melding traditional Mauritanian instruments within an electrified psychedelic rock band.” Expanding a sound born of Arab and Sub-Saharan roots, Noura Mint Seymali bends the arc of Moorish musical tradition to fit our contemporary moment, as described by NPR, “the arrival of Mauritanian vocalist Noura Mint Seymali in front of Western audiences feels like the start of a new era.”

Bnat el Houariyat (Marrakech, Morocco) is an all-women 7 piece Moroccan Chaabi/Houara women's music and dance group lead by Khadija el Warzazia, a Marrakech native born within the laâbat tradition. “Laâbat" are women percussive groups who perform celebratory Chaabi songs at weddings and female gatherings who are known to lament and mock the common struggles of life. Khadija, from a gnawa family in Marrakech, uniquely threads in elements of Gnawa in her performance alongside her powerful band of percussionists and vocalists. An active group for over 20 years, Bnat el Houariyat has mentored the younger generation with bringing on New York based dancer Esraa Warda in 2017. They represent the power of North African women and intergenerational transmission - giving audiences permission to be free without inhibitions.

Night In Tunisia is a musical journey that leads from the shores of Carthage to the port of New Orleans via West Africa where the rhythms of African-American jazz were born. In this new creation, French-Tunisian composer and saxophonist Yacine Boulares brings together a supergroup of Tunisian artists across indigenous and contemporary musical styles for an energetic and celebratory exploration of the continuum of North African and African American music. The creation is a re-imagination of the famous Dizzy Gillespie standard, “Night in Tunisia”, where Boulares invites us to go to the other side of the mirror towards an imaginary musical tale. In this tale, Dizzy would really have spent a night in Tunisia and would have been deeply imbued with its sounds and rhythms. In this project, “Night in Tunisia” is reunited with its native tongue and rhythms - the harmonies and melodies of Jazz, Soul and Funk music meet the rhythms of Mezwed, Stambeli, Chaabi, and Fazzani. Night in Tunisia is a poetic odyssey that celebrates life, the incandescent fury to dance, vibrate, and live to the rhythm of the music. At the forefront of the stage singer Nessrine Jabeur shares the mic and her poetry with rapper Mehdi WMD who are joined by traditional Tunisian percussion, drums, bass, piano/keyboard, guitar, and loutar, and band leader Yacine Boulares on saxophones.

Firaz Zreik is a Palestinian Kanun player, composer, arranger, and educator based in New York City. Born in Haifa to a musical family, Firas started playing music at an early age, when his talent quickly accelerated and gained local and then national reputation, after winning first prize at The Nazareth Competition for Musical Talents. At the age of 18 years old, Firas received a full presidential scholarship from Berklee College of Music - their most prestigious award, where he graduated with two bachelor degrees in Performance & Jazz Composition with high distinction. Firas is the lead Kanun player and soloist for The National Arab Orchestra, the lead Kanun player for legendary Oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen, as well as the musical director for his illustrious mother Amal Murkus and her band. He has worked with international artists ranging from Roger Waters to Bassam Saba and performed at prestigious venues across the world including Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center, Carthage International Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Smithsonian Museum.

Since 2012, Hatim Belyamani – aka HAT – unites artists in an ever-evolving audio-visual dance between traditional music and digital remix art. In his one-of-a-kind live show, HAT is as an orchestra conductor from the future, beaming traditional musicians from the four corners of the world onto a big screen, and shaping them harmoniously into new electro beats. Growing up in Morocco, surrounded by sounds of the country’s Arabic, Amazigh, and Sub-Saharan African origins, Hatim was an award-winning classical pianist and guitarist before finding his voice in electronic music. In 2012, inspired to celebrate his roots, Hatim founded Remix ⟷ Culture, a non-profit organization that bridges cultural divides through the transformative power of traditional music, film, and remix. Hatim and his team traverse the globe, capturing the sights and sounds of underrepresented musical traditions, which they share for free online under a Creative Commons license. HAT’s performances are a live remixing of these videos, seamlessly blending the traditional with the experimental – acoustic trance with electronic dance – connecting his audiences to distant cultures in a unique audio-visual journey.

Night In Tunisia is a musical journey that leads from the shores of Carthage to the port of New Orleans via West Africa where the rhythms of African-American jazz were born. In this new creation, French-Tunisian composer and saxophonist Yacine Boulares brings together a supergroup of Tunisian artists across indigenous and contemporary musical styles for an energetic and celebratory exploration of the continuum of North African and African American music. The creation is a re-imagination of the famous Dizzy Gillespie standard, “Night in Tunisia”, where Boulares invites us to go to the other side of the mirror towards an imaginary musical tale. In this tale, Dizzy would really have spent a night in Tunisia and would have been deeply imbued with its sounds and rhythms. In this project, “Night in Tunisia” is reunited with its native tongue and rhythms - the harmonies and melodies of Jazz, Soul and Funk music meet the rhythms of Mezwed, Stambeli, Chaabi, and Fazzani. Night in Tunisia is a poetic odyssey that celebrates life, the incandescent fury to dance, vibrate, and live to the rhythm of the music. At the forefront of the stage singer Nessrine Jabeur shares the mic and her poetry with rapper Mehdi WMD who are joined by traditional Tunisian percussion, drums, bass, piano/keyboard, guitar, and loutar, and band leader Yacine Boulares on saxophones.

Noura Mint Seymali is Mauritania's defining artist on the international stage. Drawing on the timeless repertoire of the Moorish griot, a hereditary class of musical poet / historians, her band conjures "a full blown sandstorm of hypnotic grooves, melding traditional Mauritanian instruments within an electrified psychedelic rock band.” Expanding a sound born of Arab and Sub-Saharan roots, Noura Mint Seymali bends the arc of Moorish musical tradition to fit our contemporary moment, as described by NPR, “the arrival of Mauritanian vocalist Noura Mint Seymali in front of Western audiences feels like the start of a new era.”

Bedouin Burger are a Paris based duo seamlessly intersecting Syrian and Lebanese folk with pioneering electronica. Their thumping rhythms, stirring vocals and propulsive beats bring together the traveling souls of Bedouin nomads with the free-spirit of our fast-paced era. Made up of Syrian celestial vocalist, composer and musician Lynn Adib and Lebanese underground trailblazer, music producer and multi-instrumentalist Zeid Hamdan, Bedouin Burger come with an innovative musical sound inviting sedentary urban dwellers to swing and sway to the sometimes soulful, often nomadic, jazzy and electronic beats of the Levante, topped by a lyrical sprinkling of Arabic poetry