Shahla Omar

Jan 16, 2025 | hyphenonline.com | Shahla Omar

Lately, Marwan Moussa’s feet have barely hit the ground. In the past few weeks, the Egyptian rapper and producer has performed at festivals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and joined the Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna on stage for a duet at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Speaking over WhatsApp, he is travelling down a Cairo highway, recovering from a cold he suspects he caught on his travels.

Nov 22, 2024 | newarab.com | Shahla Omar

The EFG London Jazz Festival is back for its 32nd run until 24 November. More than 300 shows are taking place at dozens of venues across London, with a dizzying range of artists set to perform. Several Middle Eastern women are among them, including Kurdish folk singer Suna Alan, Egyptian jazz singer , Turkish pop singer Melike Sahin, and British-Bahraini trumpeter and flugelhornist Yazz Ahmed. The New Arab spoke to them amid their performances at the festival.

Oct 3, 2024 | newarab.com | Shahla Omar

It's a play that has been years in the making, but whose performance has arguably never been more pertinent. British-Iranian writer Arzhang Pezhman began writing Ostan, a Farsi word meaning province or state, almost a decade ago, a seed sown in his mind when he read the story of the Iraqi immigrant owner of a car wash in Yorkshire who paid drivers to smuggle other immigrants into the UK.

Sep 16, 2024 | hyphenonline.com | Shahla Omar

Midday sunlight pours in through the double doors and skylights of the hall at the West Acton Community Centre in west London. A dozen or so students of taekwondo, dressed in brilliant white uniforms, are practising their technical patterns. Synchronised kihap (shout in Korean) echoes through the building as they kick and punch the air. The classes at the London Taekwondo Academy (LTA) are run predominantly by instructors from Afghanistan, a country where the sport has long thrived.

Aug 30, 2024 | newarab.com | Shahla Omar

In March 2018, Palestinian cyclist Alaa al-Dali was just months away from fulfilling his dream of representing his country at an international tournament, the Asian Games in Jakarta. But first, duty called. Alaa, then 21 years old, headed to the Great Return March, a weeks-long protest of Israeli occupation at Gaza's frontier with Israel, decked out in his cycling gear and with his bike in tow.