The biggest name in eastern electronic music graces Tottenham Court Road for an unforgettable night of cross-cultural musical glory.
Acid jazz flutes, huge basslines, and eastern-style vocals, Acid Arab combine the best elements of Western dance and Eastern traditional music. Their live sets are bone-tingling, finding a unique combination that brings eastern music to the forefront of pop.
Not remotely sounding like culture vultures or appropriators as European (especially French) artists so often do when co-opting the sounds of other cultures, their authenticity and faithfulness in reproducing and honouring the sounds of the Middle East is owed to their cross-cultural collaborations. For their second album, its Arab sounds came from their collaborators, while the French then-duo focused almost solely on the Acid.
But now, as a French-Algerian five-piece, with influences from further and wider than ever, their authenticity is not shadowed by any doubt. It represents an optimism in cross-cultural communication, that in the face of conflict, propaganda, moral panics, and scapegoating, that true beauty can sprout from conversation and collaboration.
In 2023, they sold out Fabric, and last year they sold out The Electric Brixton. Now, moving to the newly-built, super-sleek HERE at Outernet, Acid Arab will make full use of their pioneering sound system and state-of-the-art UHD screen to feast your eyes and ears like never before.