Expo 2020 Dubai to celebrate International Women’s Day with two-day music festival

Event features an eclectic line-up including Algeria's Souad Massi and Mali’s Les Amazones d’Afrique

Algerian singer Souad Massi is one of the performances for International Women's Day at Expo 2020 on March 6 and 7. Victor Besa / The National

Expo 2020 Dubai is celebrating International's Women's Day with a music festival in March.

Called We, The Women, it will take place ahead of the day, March 9, with nearly a dozen international acts performing at Dubai Festival Garden on March 6 and 7.

Artists include Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi, Lebanon's Tania Saleh and British-Egyptian singer Natacha Atlas.

Also on the bill is collective Les Amazones d’Afrique and the East African retro-pop sounds of Alsarah & The Nubatones.

Tunisian singer-songwriter Emel Mathlouthi and Egyptian singer and producer Dina El Wedidi round off what is a vibrant and eclectic bill.

While a majority of these artists are no strangers to UAE audiences, the festival marks the Middle Eastern debut of Les Amazones d’Afrique, a super group of successful Malian artists including Mamani Keita, Oumou Sangare and Mariam Doumbia.

Natacha Atlas will also finally make it over to the UAE with a sound befitting the nature of the world's fair. As well as recording a number of multilingual jazz and soul albums — including 2019's brilliant Strange Days — Atlas is a member of Transglobal Underground, the recently reunited UK dance group known for 1993 hit Temple Head.

We, The Women forms part of Expo 2020 Dubai's International Women's Day programme, which also features international speakers and events running under the theme Break the Bias.

On March 8, the Women’s Pavilion will host the Break the Bias Forum, while the Dubai Exhibition Centre will be home to the Break the Bias Assembly.

An evening ceremony is also planned for Al Wasl Dome with further details to be revealed soon.

See photos of Coldplay's Expo 2020 Dubai concert here: