One typically doesn’t expect good crowds for a 2pm music festival set. But on a crisp summer day at New York’s Governors Ball this past June, Elyanna, a Palestinian-Chilean singer pioneering an experimental Arab-Latin pop sound, drew a rapturous cohort at the main stage.
Swaddled in angelic white lace, honeyed hair braided with gold coins, the 22-year-old courted a crowd full of Palestinian flags in English (“We have gen Z shaking the floor!”) but sang almost entirely in Arabic. The effect of her ambitious blend – Arab pop, EDM, American jazz, Latin rhythm, traditional Middle Eastern instruments, the insouciance of Rihanna and bellydancing reminiscent of Shakira – was mesmerizing. I looked away just once in 45 minutes – enough to see that she had magnetized a good portion of the festival to the set, new listeners come to witness a star ascendant.
