Shubbak Festival Kicks Off at The National Theatre's River Stage This Weekend

This summer, the largest biennial Festival of Arab arts returns for its seventh edition, platforming and representing the rich cultures and artforms from Arab, South West Asian, and North African voices. 

Shubbak Festival presents an outstanding programme that sees celebrated figures from the Middle East make their highly anticipated UK debuts and new works.  Marking the first edition where two women are at the helm, the Festival is directed by joint CEOs Alia Alzougbi and Taghrid Choucair Vizoso.

Hamed Sinno, legendary figure in music and advocate for LGBTQ+ voices across the Middle East, will make their comeback with their solo debut and premiere of Poems of Consumption.  This will be their first public performance after leading Mashrou' Leila, the biggest indie-rock band in the region, and has been developed during a dedicated residency with Shubbak.  This innovative co-commission between Shubbak and the Barbican showcases Sinno's unique approach to the sounds of modern consumerism, utilising romantic strings and literary song cycles in a blend of hyper-industrial electronics.   

From one electrifying one-person show to another, From the Daughter of a Dictator is from writer and performer Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi.  This piece explores the personal journey of migration, considering the illusory safe shores of Western democracy as fragmented stories of belonging.  Losing It is another fiercely autobiographical piece from Palestinian performer and choreographer Samaa Wakim, who questions how growing up in a war zone has impacted her identity.  Honest fear manifests physically in the striking movement piece, set against a live score by Samar Haddad King, and featuring a soundscape of field recordings taken throughout Palestine since 2010.

In an intimate conversation at the British Library, internationally acclaimed writer and stateless Bidoon poet Mona Kareem presents her new poetry collection, I Will Not Fold These Maps.  Her groundbreaking works will be read in Arabic and, for the first time, English as well.  She harnesses the power of language to enact a boundless porosity between the body and the outside world. 

As part of Shubbak Festival, nine Disabled and non-disabled artists and producers from Jordan and Palestine will be visiting as delegates.  Supported by the British Council, this delegation is a development of a British Council-funded leadership training programme, Sync Arabi, that took place in Jordan earlier this year and was co-run by Shubbak and Art 2 Heart - Palestine and Sync Leadership. Shubbak Festival features several of the Sync Arabi alumni, most notably presenting Art & Disability Under Siege.  Hosting a rousing virtual discussion between four disabled artists and cultural practitioners, this panel will share insights and conversations into not only surviving, but thriving amidst what can feel like impossible circumstances.

Another Sync Arabi alumnus is Sharihan Hadweh, who makes her UK debut.  Platforming not only female figures in comedy, but disabled representation, blind comedian Hadweh teams with comedian and actress Manal Awad in Sharihan Hadweh & Manal Awad: Comedy from Palestine for an intertwined live and virtual evening of energetic comedy.

In collaboration with the Poetry Translation Centre, Shubbak Festival presents an intimate stroll with Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi as he recites poetry from Queensway to the site of what was until recently the Saqi Bookshop, a landmark of Arabic literature.  His latest poetry collection, A Friend's Kitchen, began as musings to his family in the aftermath of his arrival in London, where he has lived in exile since 2012.

Award winning filmmaker and BAFTA-nominated director Yasmin Fedda presents an interactive dystopian experience in Pathogen of War.  This piece will transport audiences to a possible near future, looking at the dangers of antibiotic resistance and weaving true scientific histories, politics, and performance art in a truly unmissable spectacle.  In The Legitimated Body and Navigated Listener, the concept of 'survival listening' is explored by Hardi and Khabat; inspired by Hardi's own 'illegal' immigration to Europe with a small radio, this relaxed performance invites friends and strangers alike in London and Slemani, Iraqi Kurdistan to join an interactive experience. 

Shubbak Festival is held with support from: Arts Council England; Bagri Foundation; British Council; and A. M. Qattan Foundation.

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