Al Balad Music Festival
The Al Balad Music Festival hosts a wide assortment of local, regional, and international artists exposing audiences in Jordan to a rich and diverse range of genres and talents. We are grateful to say that we have helped introduce many Arab stars to their first audiences.
Since 2009, Al-Balad Music Festival has stood as a pillar for independent and emerging Arab musicians. Over 50 different musical performances have been showcased to audiences in Jordan featuring a diverse range of genres and talents. We are proud to source artists from locally, regionally, and internationally. We are also inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of our participating artists to collaborate together in innovative ways.
Al Balad Music Festival is a regional music festival organized every two years by Al-Balad Theater. Al-Balad Music Festival showcases both established and independent artists. The festival takes place in the heart of Amman in both the Ancient Roman Theater and The Odeon Theater, usually lasting for a week in the Summer. Through this festival, we are able to bolster independent and emerging Arab artists and musicians talents, skills, and fan-bases. We also are able to facilitate new collaborations between artists that otherwise would not be possible. Our first festival was in 2009. Since then, we have had nine editions of the festival, which showcased more than 55 different musical performances to our diverse audiences. You can see a list of some of the performers from our nine different festivals below.
About some of our shows:
In 2011, we hosted Oumeima El Kahlil (Lebanon), Rayan Al Haber (Lebanon), Wlad El 7ara (Palestine), Kazamada Group (Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan), Nasser Salameh (Jordan), Sana’a Mousa (Palestine), Al-Shaab Choir (Jordan and Egypt), El Morabba3 (Jordan), Yacoub Abu Ghosh (Jordan), and Souad Massi (Algeria-France).
In our 2013 rendition, Dar Qandeel (Palestine), Shadi Zaqtan (Palestine), FisFuz (Germany and Turkey), The Palestine Youth Orchestra, Jadal Rock Band (Jordan), Akher Zapheer (Jordan), and Ahmad Farah (Jordan) performed on a variety of our stages.
Our original show Music from Amman to Gaza where all proceeds were delivered to Gaza through the Red Crescent showcased: Shu Hal Ayyam (Jordan), Ayloul Band (Jordan), Ahmad Farah (Jordan), Krist Al-Zoubi (Palestine-Jordan), Montaser Mighrabi, Ahmad Srour (Jordan), and a collective of young talents from Jordan in mid-2014. Another project related to Al-Balad Music Festival was, in June 2014, we hosted Terez Yazan and friends (Palestine and Syria).
In 2015, Al-Balad hosted a Jazz festival with Oriental Jazz Band LEBIDERYA (Germany-Turkey), MASAA (Germany-Lebanon), QUADRO NUEVO (Germany)––a group who combines acoustic sound with elements of flamenco, Balkan swing, traditional folk, and avant-garde improvisation.
In late 2016 and 2017, we facilitated El-Far3i’s (Jordan) first solo performances from his band 47 Soul and his debut album release. We hosted Fun Horns, a European jazz band (Germany). We facilitated Rim Banna’s (Palestine) album release of “Voice of Resistance” with Darat al Funun. We also collaborated with Jerih cultural association to present a music and rap exhibition from the young people of Talbieh Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman.
The sixth edition of the festival, in 2019, over 5,000 audience members joined us as we hosted 65 musicians from: Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Canada, Sweden and France. H.O.H (Egypt) performed for the first time in Jordan with us in 2019. Al-Morabba3 (Jordan), Yazan al-Saraeira (Jordan), Ayloul Band (Jordan), D Jam (Algeria), Ghaem Jozi (Jordan), Le Trio Joubran (Palestine) also graced our stage.
The 2019 rendition of the festival also brought together a number of projects that were designed and produced to be premiered in the festival. One of which was “In the footsteps of Rumi,” which was a unique Sufi project by Kiya Tabassian, Ghalia Bin Ali and Naser Salameh, from Canada, Tunisia, and Jordan respectively. This collaboration was co-produced by Al Balad Music Festival and Constaninople in Canada. The collaboration resulted in a beautiful Sufi journey and filled the skies of Amman with magical melodies.
Another collaboration from 2019 was “Harmony,” a project by Lina Neyberg and Tania Saleh. This Swedish-Lebanese collaboration premiered in our festival and later toured the Arab world and Europe.
In 2022, we hosted Faraj Suleiman (Jordan), 47 Soul (Jordan), and Massar Egbari (Egypt).
In 2023, we hosted Le Trio Jubran (Palestine) in the Amman-Cultural Center and Faraj Suleiman (Jordan) in the Roman Amphitheater once again.
In 2024, we held the 30th anniversary reunion of Al-Fajer Music Group from Palestine in the Orthodox Educational Society Culture and Sports Center.
Some of our innovative collaborations: Collaboration Between Vocalist Terez Suleiman From Palestine And Sophia Portugal From Portugal Presenting The Show “Mina”. Another Collaboration Was “Karavan”, Which Was The Fusion Between The Tunisian Mounir Troudi And The Band From the Golan Heights “Hawa Dafi”. “The Salhi Project” Of Mounir Troudi And Percussionist Imed Alibi Was Also Presented Accompanied By The French Trumpet Michelle Marre. The Largest Collaboration Was Presented At The 2017 Festival For The Show “El Khat Da Khati” Combining The Work Of Eskenderella From Egypt And Yalalan From Palestine In 2017.