Fairuz: The grande dame of Arabic singing turns 85

Fairuz: The grande dame of Arabic singing turns 85.
She is called the "mother of the Lebanese nation" and the "harp of the orient": Fairuz is an icon in the Arab world. Now she is celebrating her 85th, she hasn't been on stage for a few years, the last album came out in 2017 - and yet Fairuz is omnipresent. Whether in Beirut, Baghdad, Dubai or Rabat: Anyone who turns on the radio in the morning is sure to hear her familiar voice. Because for decades, the Lebanese woman's songs have been part of the daily repertoire of Arabic-language broadcasters - as befits an icon.

Lido Pimienta - "Eso Que Tu Haces"

The Colombian-Canadian musician  Lido Pimienta has already been celebrated in Canada with her 2016 album "La Papessa". Now, in the eleven pieces of her new album, she brings together what has influenced her musically: Especially Cumbia and the Colombian subgenre Porro, then indigenous folk, but also electro and dance pop and finally punk. Pimienta - born in Colombia and now at home in Toronto - very well represents post-migrant Canada. On the one hand, she sings about the bad experiences she has had as a queer, dark-skinned woman ("Nada"), but in "Quiero Que Me Salves" she is also cautiously optimistic about the future when it comes to dealing with the racist crimes of the past. ("Y ya llegó la oportunidad / Para arreglar nuestro pasado" - "Finally there is an opportunity to work through our past."