Episode 91: Why Drake sampling Fairuz is more complicated than you might think

In this episode of Culture Bites, hosts Enas Refaei and Farah Andrews react to Drake’s new track, which samples a song from the Lebanese icon Fairuz. During a live stream to promote his upcoming album, Iceman, the Canadian hip-hop artist played a song that featured vocals from Fariuz’s 1979 hit Wahdon. It sparked concern among Arab audiences over whether the Lebanese singer would be credited and compensated. Enas and Farah reflect on the criticism against Western artists sampling political Arabic songs out of context. They also discuss the merits of embracing cultural elements from the region. This comes at a time when artists all over the world are becoming more vocal about their solidarity with Palestinians. After a strong show of support by actors at the Venice Film Festival and the Emmys, London hosted Together for Palestine, a benefit concert for the people of Gaza. The hosts highlight some of the musicians in the line-up, including Bastille, Elyanna and Adnan Joubran of Le Trio Joubran. They talk about the growing action by the global art community to protest the atrocities in Gaza.