DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is shaking up the regional music scene with lyrically-driven folkloric songs called Sheilat.
This genre, according to data supplied by music streaming service Spotify, is one of the most ubiquitous and popular styles to come out of the Kingdom.
In an interview with Arab News, Majd Alazem, the vice president of network at digital talent agency Alfan Group – one of the “early adopters of Sheilat,” said: “It used to be a very local, traditional genre — a performance of poetry. It used to be more of a tribal thing within Saudi Arabia, Yemen and some of the GCC countries as well.
Majd Alazem is the vice president of network at digital talent agency Alfan Group. (Supplied)
“After the digital revolution and when social media came on to the scene, Sheilat started to go viral on YouTube,” he added. “We saw that this genre had potential because its audience is very, very loyal.”
Over time, these songs turned from being poetry that was sung among tribes to “having instruments and every single aspect of typical music (usually found in a) song,” said Alazem.
The musical style is starting to get attention from Gen-Zs and millennials across the region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait being the top markets listening to the genre, according to Spotify.
Alazem explained that he believes this is because of Sheilat’s upbeat music, “which is very popular among the younger audience.”
The lyrics often use motivational words and “now, with TikTok and the short video form, Sheilat is becoming a massive (part of the) sound library,” he added.
Fahed Bin Fasla is one of the most famous Sheilat singers from Saudi Arabia. (Supplied)
In fact 80 percent of Sheilat listeners on Spotify stream the music while they are gaming.
“People who play these exciting games, like Fortnite, tend to need a motivational sound track to help them perform better within the game,” Alazem theorized.
Wissam Khodur, the artist and label partnerships at Spotify Middle East and North Africa, told Arab News: “We’ve been blown away by the growth of the Sheilat genre on our platform, and it’s truly inspiring to witness it break into the mainstream and be incorporated into a key culture-defining moment such as gaming.”
Fahed Bin Fasla is one of the most famous Sheilat singers from Saudi Arabia, with a stellar 152 million views on just one of his hit songs on YouTube.
When speaking to Arab News, he said: “Sheilat is a great form of art… What makes it special is the lyrics.”
Bin Fasla said the words he sings are easy and simple to understand not just for Saudis, but also for music lovers “in Libya, Syrian, Jordan and elsewhere.”
