Hiya Live Sessions will be debuting in London on Friday, 6th May 2022, at The Jago, presenting performances from radical women DJs, spoken word artists and other musical acts from the SWANA region.

SWANA is the decolonial term for South West Asia and North Africa, commonly referred to as MENA (the Middle East and North Africa). Hiya translates to She in Arabic.

According to the organisation's official Instagram, Hiya Live Sessions "is a global event bringing together the radical feminist voices of the SWANA region."

The project is now second in its edition following its 2021 inaugural event, which celebrated the tenth year anniversary of the Arab Spring as well as Women's History Month with a two day digital music festival.

The festival brought together an all-female lineup of revolutionary, progressive DJs, musicians, singers, poets and artists from across the SWANA region who are shaping the future of music.

Now back in 2022, "Ghazal: Neo-Mystics" offers a global series of concerts and club nights exploring futurism and mystical radicalism in London, Brooklyn, Cairo and Beirut while creating safer dancefloors for women. 

The London show will feature live performances from Nadine El Roubi, the Sudanese Cairo-based singer and rapper, Yemeni-British singer-songwriter Intibint, and Palestinian sound researcher, musician and performer Bint Mbareh, followed by DJ sets from Dubai-based Megatronic (Worldwide FM, Femme Fest) and the Beirut Groove Collective's Natalie Shooter.

"We want to show solidarity with women without trivialising them by their gender, without having that tokenistic approach to female leaders by always highlighting them in that way," Natalie Shooter, co-founder of Hiya Live, tells Scene Noise. "[Hiya is] a rejection of the music industry and a rejection of various kinds of boxes that the industry tries to often put women in."

"There's a very specific energy right now of women wanting to be seen and wanting to be heard and who don't want to be controlled in any way or form," says co-founder Saad to Scene Noise. "We're trying to create a safe space where you can be in the public eye and feel free to express yourself."

You can get tickets to the London show here. To warm up for the party, check out these recordings from last year's festival on mixcloud.