Podcast voices from the Middle East: from music to storytelling
The industry looks brighter if we dig and delve into meaningful stories that inspire change and spark innovation
By Elisa Pierandrei
Empowering the media and entertainment industry to enhance creativity and transform the audience. This might not be the goal of a single producer, but the industry of alternative media formats, such as podcasts, looks brighter if we dig and delve into meaningful stories that inspire change and spark innovation.
More than diversification, today’s media ecosystem needs to become more resilient through innovation that invests in both new technology and engaging content. Podcasts pivot away from existing media models and can connect with a new generation, attracting all age groups, whose Internet consumption is largely confined to social media, and lead them into audio storytelling.
If Arabs are among the biggest consumers of media around the world, on various devices, from TVs to smartphones, then podcasts also constitute a sustainable alternative to the screen-reading experience while contributing to supporting media and spreading digital culture.
The Middle East is a relatively new market for companies curating and producing podcasts.
Have you ever thought of your voice as a tool to convey emotions? A beautiful voice is like a musical instrument of high value and prestige. If a voice is able to convey positive emotions, then the listener is overwhelmed by empathy and relives in turn.
The Amman-based Sowt media company incorporates this vision in its brand name: the word ‘sowt’ in fact means ‘voice’ in Arabic. Over the years, their business model has proved to be successful: Sowt produces its podcasts in Arabic language(s), which is instrumental to discuss issues close to the Arab community and the challenges it faces. Besides offering a range of production services to private clients, Sowt produces its own shows for the public, supported by grants from local and international organizations, and on its ad-free subscription service, Sowt+.
The platform was originally established in 2016, and formally expanded into a podcasting network in 2017, by Hazem and Tarek Zureikat, and Ramsey Tesdell, currently Sowt’s executive director (who is also a past Nieman Lab contributor). In 2022, Sowt acquired the award-winning Dubai company, Finyal Media, which has produced a number of popular Arabic fiction podcasts. The two companies have collaborated together in the past, and the acquisition is almost an organic growth in their relationship.
One of Sowt’s flagships is Dom Tak, that stands for Oriental rhythm. It is a narrative-driven podcast, hosted by Rana Dawud — from 2020 a full time in-house producer—that explores the stories of unsung singers in the Arab community, and not only that. A number of episodes are designed to take the listener back to memories of the golden age of the live music industry. Launched in 2019, currently it boasts seven seasons and 1.6 million listeners across the Arab community.
Also launched in 2019, and originally produced by Finyal Media, the podcast titled 1,001 Nights brings back memories of a lost age. It is an Arabic fiction podcast articulated in various episodes that recounts the classic Arabian magical tales that centre around the infamous characters of Sultan Shahryar and his wife Shahrezade.
According to statistics disclosed by the company to Sight, Touch, and Imagination, 41% of Sowt’s audience are from Saudi Arabia, followed by Egypt, then the UAE. Sowt (except for shows acquired from Finyal Media) have produced over 1,100 episodes of its original shows.
Their listenership continues to soar. While podcasts can be considered niche, Sowt listeners have grown 37.3% between Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, and 178% between Q1 2022 and Q1 2023.
This piece primarily focuses on the content of Arabic language(s) as well as English podcasts about the entertainment culture from the Arab region (broadly defined to include those with a sense of belonging to it).
Founded in 2015, Kerning Cultures Network is the first venture-funded podcast company in the Middle East. The Dubai-based company, which happens to be female-led, produces and curates podcast episodes about a variety of issues relevant to its Arab audience, particularly for its series Kerning Cultures (EN) (4 seasons). Tune in to this podcast to listen to the story of a father and a daughter of Armenian origins, and their journey to their ancestral homeland; or, instead, learn more about the life of the well-known blind oud player Sheikh Imam, starting from his humble beginnings, and how his destiny changed drastically after he met the dissident poet Ahmed Fouad Negm.
The Kerning Network also produces popular podcasts inspired by the endless fascination with the world of love and personal relationships. Bhob (AR) tells stories about “the force that drives the universe: in fact, it explores the concept of love in all its forms through stories from across the region”. Swipe Left (AR) explores the quest for love in the 21st century. In its creators’ words, it reasons “about the constant disappointments and about the happy endings we crave but can’t see yet on the horizon.”
In the US and the UK, perhaps the biggest markets for the medium, that according to a relevant survey on UK’s audience is set to grow in 2023, there are some hugely popular history podcasts. Audio primarily offers opportunities to convey the experience of telling history.
Creators from Middle East countries take listeners on fascinating journeys into the distant and more recent past, sometimes demystifying history. Produced by Al Jazeera, Rumooz (meaning ‘symbols/icons’ in English) is a popular Arabic-language podcast that listeners can download to learn about the biographies of historical figures.
In the region, podcasts are made available on the major music apps and web platforms such as iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify, and on a long line of others, such as Anghami, which is very popular among Arab listeners.
The key to the success of this relatively new medium is networking. Specific events take the form of festivals and conventions, for creators and fans to meet, and for entrepreneurs to share their expertize. These types of gatherings are growing in popularity in the Gulf region (particularly in Saudi Arabia) — The most established ones being Ignite the Sound, Sada, and the Dubai PodFest.
During the second edition of the Dubai PodFest (2022), much attention was paid to Bader Noor of the satirical podcast Eshtry Menny (literally ‘buy from me’ in English) in Egyptian Arabic. Together with his friends Jamal Ramzy and Abdul Rahman Mohammed, Noor discusses a range of issues that impact people’s everyday lives. In each episode, the three hosts debate a new topic from three different points of view: “But you do not have to agree with our opinion — Noor playfully warns the listeners of his podcast — because we do not agree with each other in the first place.”
Sight, Touch, and Imagination is also a newsletter in English about art, photography, and exhibitions in the Euro-Mediterranean region. You can sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hq-8F1
