Coachella, the multi-day music and arts festival held in California witnessed history when Palestinian Chilean singer Elyanna became the first Arab artist to perform an entire set in Arabic on its stage. She was also the first ever Palestinian to perform at Coachella. Dressed in angelic white, during her performance she captivated fans with her haunting rendition of Abdel Halim Hafez’s, “Ahwak” alongside many of her classic hits.
In a recent Instagram post, the artist told her fans, “I’m so grateful to sing my language and bring my culture my music, and my dancing to a festival like @Coachella.” To the artist, this performance holds a special place in her heart following her journey in music.
It all started when she was seven years old when she first began to sing. At age 15, she moved from Nazerath to the United States with her family. Fast forward to 2017, she got discovered by Nasri Atweh, a fellow Palestinian and producer who launched the start of her career. Through Atweh, the artist was introduced to Wasim ‘Sal’ Slaiby, CEO of record label XO and manager of The Weekend. Today, the artist has two EPs under her belt and hit songs like “Ghareeb Alay,” “Ala Bali” and “Ana Lahale”.
Throughout her musical journey, the artist dreams of bringing Arab music to the international stage. She’s on her way as she released Arabic EPs in the US, blending together Arab and Western beats in her music and collaborating with Arab artists like Canadian Lebanese singer Massari. With that fusion, she has been able to finally grace the international stage and share her Arab music with the world. Following her mesmerizing performance, we are expecting to see Elyanna grace the stage once again at Coachella on April 22.
