Egyptian rapper Felukah: Singing for the Grammys and how to expand boundaries of Arabic music

After playing in New York, she is gearing up for her first international tour taking in cities in Europe as well as Dubai

Felukah, real name Sara El Messiry, performs at the Recording Academy in New York. Getty Images

Last week in New York, amid the urgent meetings at the UN General Assembly, a nearby gig also had the potential to reshape the region. At the Recording Academy's invite-only event, Egyptian rapper and singer Felukah delivered an intimate performance for select music tastemakers and diplomats, aiming to elevate the Middle East and North Africa on the global music map.

In many ways, it was a celebration for the recently launched Mena Recording Academy. Run under the auspices of the parent organisation, it aims to use its expertise and influence to develop the regional music scene before ultimately launching a new version of the Grammy Awards dedicated to artists from the region and Turkey.

The choice of Felukah, real name Sara El Messiry who is a burgeoning independent artist from Egypt, underlines the organisation's ambition to highlight current and future sounds from the Arab world.

“To be honest, I only now understand fully how important it was that they chose me to perform there instead of a big Arab superstar,” she tells The National. “As an independent artist, being recognised by an institution as prestigious as the Recording Academy is a dream.

"It wasn’t just about me, it was also about validating a whole community of artists – rappers, singers, dancers – who are all part of this cultural movement that never had access to such a big stage because they didn’t have the necessary backing or infrastructure behind them.”

In many ways, Felukah’s career growth mirrors the expansion of the region's music industry, with global streaming platforms Spotify and Apple Music launching here a year before the release of her 2019 debut album Citadel.

“While there was a strong independent Arabic hip-hop scene led by people such as [Iraqi rapper] Narcy and [British-Palestinian rapper] Shadia Mansour, to name just a few of the OGs, the scene is still very dominated and dictated in a way by major record labels,” she says. “I am not making a point that major labels are bad in any way, I am just pointing out that there were a lot of great storytellers from the scene who couldn’t have their voices heard.

"But with the streaming platforms coming into the region and creating regional playlists with our works and faces on them, it really helped in getting our work out there. And now with the Recording Academy being in Mena, it does feel like the cherry on top because they expose our work to different markets and other artists as well.”

Felukah is already seeing the potential benefits of the Recording Academy’s regional push from the immediate reception to her gig. “There is this interest and curiosity from record label people and artists about what is happening here in the scene,” she says. “And what I hope is that these discussions open doors to collaborations with international artists because that’s really what the Arabic music scene needs. While it’s great to collaborate internally we need to work with artists from Latin America and the West to help expand the boundaries of what Arabic music actually means today.”

Felukah hinted at the promise of such an approach with a whirlwind set of songs deftly fusing Arabic and English hip-hop with neo-soul and Arabic folk. Backed by a percussionist on the darbuka and an accordionist, she performed tracks including Birds in Cairo and Egyptian Lover. She recalls the latter’s interpolation of Beyonce’s 2003 hit Baby Boy wasn’t lost on the New York crowd.

"I wanted to show them that our music can be regionally focused while being outward looking at the same time," she says. "I even wore a gold dress to mirror the Grammy Award I want to win one day."

Until that day comes, Felukah hopes to earn her plaudits on the road. On October 21, she will embark on her first international solo tour taking in European cities like Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam before coming to Dubai for a November 15 gig at the Monkey Bar.

Trailed by new single Honey Suckle, she is already working on her fourth album. She describes it as a return to her hip-hop roots. "You heard it here first: it will be out next year and called Hibiscus," Felukah says. "It will be me coming back to the source and that's rapping. It feels like a new beginning."