Meet MARSM, The Concert Producers Bringing You The Hottest Musical Talent From The Middle East
If you haven’t been to a MARSM event yet, you need to get a wiggle on! This high energy events company, promoting Arab culture through parties and performance, is delivering some of the hottest talent from the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). From deep house techno to percussive live bands, they are filling dance floors and stages across the UK with a luxuriously diverse and eclectic mix of talent.
Curating each night in ways that bridge the gap between the Arab diaspora and UK audiences, MARSM events harness an environment that allows creativity to flourish, resulting in global conversations to be born through entertainment. We asked MARSM a bit more about the company’s ethos and what a new audience member can expect from their nights.
What can people expect when coming to a Marsm event?
From Egyptian rock bands, to Lebanese hip-hop artists, Syrian sufi singers and Palestinian electronica producers, Marsm events always encompass an impressive range of dynamic musicians and scenes. Each event is especially tailored to the artist and their audiences, meaning that no event is the same. While one night might be a classical sit-down show at the Barbican, the next weekend could be a late-night basement techno party. Sometimes we’ll do a free full-day North African festival and the following week we have a Hishek Bishek- our regular club night that goes on into the early hours of the morning.
Photo: Greg De Wode
““MARSM is a London-based concert producer and organiser for alternative and underground Arabic music events in the UK.””
What are the core values that Marsm represents?
The idea behind Marsm was to create a platform for unfiltered, uncompromising and raw talent. Promoting and producing the rich and diverse art and cultures of the Arab-speaking world, focusing on alternative, indie and underground artists. Given the lack of platforms for Arabic artists, especially the ones not opting for the mainstream and commercial concerts, it’s always been key to us that bands do not feel as if they need to alter their sound to appear more ‘appealing’ to international audiences.
We’ve seen numerous cases where festivals and UK promoters would judge bands as being ‘too Arabic’. They’d hesitate to book bands for fear they wouldn’t appeal to UK audiences and that the language barrier of singing in Arabic would dissuade some potential curious listeners. Inversely, some acts were judged to not be ‘Arabic enough’; when typical Arabic tropes and stereotypes were not met to sell it as ‘authentic’, they would be asked to ‘spice themselves up a bit’ if they wanted to sell tickets. With MARSM, each band can directly transfer their music onto a London stage without having to change or alter the foundation of their music, providing the best ‘snapshot’ into what Arabic music sounds like in the 21st century. Spoiler: you can’t put it in a box.
How do audiences respond to the diversity of your events?
Given the variety of events that we host, there has always been a strong interest and drive by broader audiences to engage and discover more of Marsm’s work and the artists we host. We have a wide range of partner venues and festivals, such as The EFG London Jazz
Festival, The Barbican, Shubbak Festival and Jazz Cafe, which has helped increase people’s curiosity to explore the contemporary music scenes of the Middle East and North Africa. Our audiences have also realised that every show and each band is so different that just coming to one Marsm night won't suffice. People have been catching onto the FOMO!
What are some of the challenges you've faced when bringing artists over to perform?
One of the hardest difficulties is the high cost of operation, logistics, travel and visas. Whether flying a 9-piece band from the Middle East or going through the endless visa process we continuously aim to create the most efficient and clear way of working. We’ve come to see that the visa process is highly complicated and always changing. The lack of consistency has been one of our biggest challenges in production of our events as visa applications can range from 2-9 weeks with various forms, demands and supporting papers. Furthermore, with the rise in venue costs and associated fees in London, it has become more expensive to invite artists. Not to mention that London has lost 30% of its music venues in the past 30 years, so we’re increasingly limited in what venues we can use.
Photo: Greg De Wode
How do artist’s benefit from the events MARSM creates?
For us, our work has always been two-fold; to serve as a dynamic cultural platform that supports outstanding Arab and North-African talent. And furthermore, contributing to the artist’s exposure in the UK. Marsm’s yearly programme has featured a hefty list of bands who have made their UK debut with us, reflecting the ever fresh and supportive platform we aim to represent.
Who are your favourite acts/highlights that MARSM has represented?
Oh this is a hard one because each event offers a truly one off experience. But off the top of our heads, some of our most memorable nights have been when Adonis, the Lebanese indie-rock band made their London debut and they had pre-prepared a whole part of their set where the drummer proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes. It was the feels all around.
Our showcase series ‘The Case of Arabic Hip-Hop’ is highly popular. It’s a fascinating snapshot into the pulse of hip-hop in the middle east today with artists covering the whole region and every type of subgenre. In previous shows, we had two of the most popular urban Palestinian bands spontaneously performing together, the crowd went insane - after 20 minutes, half the audience had lost their voices, the other half had gotten onstage with the artists. Bassem Youssef, the Egyptian TV icon and exiled figure, performed his first english -stand up comedy set. We had 800 come down to see his debut and he got a standing ovation. Also, who would have thought that one of Egypt’s biggest faces was one of the most humble, kindest and most considerate people we’ve ever hosted?
Photo: Greg De Wode
What does the future look like for Marsm?
It’s looking very exciting. We’re so humbled to have been awarded the Arts Council England’s ‘Elevate 2020’ Grant and are super excited for how this will support us in creating an extended cultural platform for Arabic music. With an upcoming rebrand, our website will include artist features, blogs, podcasts, interviews and curated playlists so be sure to check it out for all the latest news and insights. We are continuing to work with new venues and organisations, reviving our hip-hop showcases, strengthen our electronic music nights, sending Marsm delegates to international arabic festivals, and creating a fascinating lineup of upcoming artists so keep a look out for what is to come.
Marsm has put together a playlist of some of the exciting alternative and underground Arab music to listen to now.
““Translated as “easel” in English, Marsm serves as a dynamic cultural platform that supports outstanding Arab and North-African talent and contributes to their exposure in the UK.””
Follow Marsm on Twitter @MarsmUk and Instagram @marsm_uk and keep up with their latest musical events.
