Backstage: Marwan Moussa at Nawafiz Festival

‘Backstage’ is SceneNoise’s new series focusing on live performances by regional artists, highlighting the most electrifying moments of a show, while also capturing the excitement and anticipation performers go through while getting ready to play to a roaring crowd.

After a two-year hiatus from live performances, brought about by personal circumstances, Egyptian rap icon Marwan Moussa made his comeback back in May, performing at Nawafiz festival in Utrecht, the Netherlands alongside some of the region’s most influential acts such as Shkoon and El Sawareekh.

Playing to a jam-packed crowd of fans from the diaspora, who gathered from around Europe at the Dutch festival celebrating the sounds of the region, Moussa didn’t miss a single step, performing at the top of his game to an audience that knew every lyric by heart.

After the show, we caught up with Marwan Moussa to talk about his experience at the festival, what it meant to him to be representing Arabic music in this context, and how diving deep within and looking at one’s personal experience can propel artists to international success through unfiltered authenticity.

Watch the full video here: