Alternative Arab Music Overseas
Marsm Canada: Impact through Music and the Arts
Translated by Sara Hlaibeih
Of the 38 million people living in Canada, approximately one million are Arabs or people from Arabic-speaking countries. Canada is a country for immigrants from all around the world, where people with various backgrounds try to express themselves and make their voices heard through all kinds of art and cultural initiatives. It might not be wise to speak of Arabs collectively in light of their different cultural and political affiliations. However, there are attempts to create intersections within the community to enable them to harmonically represent themselves in the Canadian political and cultural scene.
Following the escalation of immigration over the past few years, activists and artists interested in public affairs, and who are still concerned with liberating the countries that they left behind or were forcibly displaced from, have been trying to find common grounds that could unite them and help find intersections among themselves. Alternative music is one of the things that bring those activists and artists together. This music’s audience has been growing, especially with its more expressive content of their lives compared to traditional or Arabic pop music.
Marsm Canada realized the importance of alternative music, so the organizers are trying to arrange events, hold concerts and host artists of this genre in Canada. The launch of this organization was announced last March as an “events producer of vibrant music,” after a year of working on establishing it as a sister company of Marsm UK which was founded back in 2015. For their first event, they hosted the Palestinian stand-up comedian Alaa Abu Diab on May 21st in several Canadian cities for which all turned out to be fully sold-out shows. For their upcoming event, they will host Le Trio Joubran on July 16th, an event which the organizers hope will bring Arabs from different backgrounds closer and introduce Canadians to different types of Arabic music. Marsm Canada’s and Henna Platform’s visions intersect when it comes to realizing the importance of this type of music. The fan base is mainly young generations from diverse social backgrounds brought together by content representing them and addressing their burdens. Thus, a strategic partnership was born between Henna and Marsm Canada based on integration and support of one another in organizing artistic activities and events in Canada.
Dina Alwer and Naji Rizk, old friends and founding partners of Marsm Canada, were inspired by Marsm UK. They followed its activities, events and shows over the years and decided to put forward the idea of establishing one in Canada.
In a conversation with Henna, Naji told our team, “Dina encouraged me to follow Marsm UK and that is what I have been doing for five years. However, I always wondered why there wasn’t a similar company in Canada. Many people, including myself, would love to attend art events. Founding Marsm Canada will be an influencing factor in Toronto, along with the bands, organizations and media platforms. A lot of us crave art for Arabs here. Dina and I got excited about the idea, and we held meetings with Marsm UK, which ended with an agreement to establish Marsm Canada.”
The company’s founders identify themselves as organizers of concerts and shows seeking to spread art and independent Arabic alternative music, to fill the void created by the lack of representation in Canada’s Arab community and to show Canadians Arabic art for what it really is. Dina says, “The demand for these kinds of shows was always a key motive. I am one of many who wish to attend concerts and shows for music we have known, connected with and loved back home. We have a special Arabic art holding a strong message. We are tired of not being part of the scene as we are supposed to be. We want to be taken seriously and for our art to be present in Toronto’s streets, cafes and stages.”
Reactions from the Arab audience to Alaa Abu Diab’s event were surprising for Naji and encouraged him to invite more influential Arab artists to Toronto. He says, “The Arab art scene is still limited somehow in Toronto. Hosting bands like 47Soul or Mashrou’ Leila happens once every couple of years. We were amazed at the diversity of generations that were in the attendees of Alaa Abu Diab’s show, although he wasn’t very famous among Arabs here, yet the show was sold out two weeks in advance. This indicated to us Arab’s need here of all ages, backgrounds and orientations for such kinds of shows. At the same time, we should also focus on introducing Canadians to high-valued Arabic Art.”
There are various active and ambitious young groups in Toronto and Montreal who share a sense of responsibility towards creating a community that offers them space to express themselves. Dina thinks those groups have “mutual passion that is sufficient enough to cooperate and achieve their goals in delivering the message, the idea and the music to as many people as possible. They can unite to offer new art genres throughout the year. They would stand out as the voice representing the Arab society which is growing day after day and provide a space for them to express themselves, to network and to exchange ideas.”
According to Naji, this is one of many visions that Marsm Canada is trying to bring to life, and he adds, “We’re trying to lure Mississauga’s audience to downtown Toronto. We want to grant local bands the opportunity to hold their concerts in the best theaters for both the Arab and Canadian audience. We make sure to choose bands and figures that would attract diverse ages, societies and cultures, artists who carry important and powerful messages to which we all need to pay attention. That is what we expect from Le Trio Joubran; they might attract an audience similar to Shkoon’s and 47Soul’s fan’s orientation.”
Art does not only bring together different kinds of communities in one place, but it also bridges the gap between generations, cultures and societies. Dina believes that “an Arabic music band performing on a stage in Toronto can magically transfer us back to our homelands where we grew up and are forever nostalgic to. To have events that feel like us and touch the deepest memories in the heart of the cities we are exiled at… Art can overturn prevailing perceptions about us and help establish our presence as active individuals with dreams, hopes and accomplishments. We might actually feel less lonely.”
Many challenges stand in the way of those who try to organize artistic and cultural events in Canada—starting with the difficulty of attracting a sufficient audience from the Arab community scattered in many cities and towns to the funding obstacles and scarce returns. It all makes committing to this mission year round even more difficult. This is not to mention the struggles of securing theatres and venues at reasonable costs and dates, especially in spring and summer. Naji added, “we can’t organize shows without facing challenges and attempting to overcome them. The cost of artists’ hotel stays and travel between cities is higher in Canada than in Europe. These problems make it harder to organize activities targeting the Arab community. What we can do for now is cooperate and partner with active organizations and companies whose visions meet the tools we can offer, hoping to ease our struggles.”
