Video for “Gamar” from latest album Balfron Promise here
If you loved the frenzy of Omar Souleyman, 47 Soul should be your next stop. – Best Songs of 2018 -NPR
It is rare you find a band with such a unique sound and vibe. -MTV
Since 2013, Jordanian-Palestinian electronic band 47SOUL has been innovatively blending modernity and traditional Middle Eastern influences into a soundscape that has captivated a growing worldwide fanbase. Following two tours of North America earlier this year, with performances at globalFEST in New York City and SXSW in Austin, TX, the group will return for a new run of dates visiting Lincoln Center in New York City, Pop Montreal in Canada, and more. See below for full tour dates.
47SOUL has become renowned for inventing their own genre, Shamstep (also the name of their debut EP), which fuses dubby, synthy sounds with rock elements, hip-hop and pop lyrics in English and Arabic. The high-energy electronic creation, featuring Arab roots music (Dabke) has been kicked up a gear on their record Balfron Promise, with cinematic soundscapes and menacing rock undertones creating an extra atmospheric edge.
The quartet has cultivated a fast growing following from gigs around the world, including Glastonbury and WOMAD in the UK. Their distinctive hooks and powerful political lyrics resonate with their fans in their iconic YouTube music video for their debut single Intro to Shamstep, currently sitting at more than 10 million views here.
They also have a formidable reputation as a live act built on their energetic and intoxicatingly otherworldly live shows. This is demonstrated by their sold-out record release show of their new album at London’s Village Underground and by many others such as in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cairo, Istanbul, Paris. After almost 100 gigs, they finished their 2018 tour on a festival in Brazil for 20,000 people in front of their stage.
Beyond their musical influence, 47SOUL are renowned as a voice on social and humanitarian issues – the band’s very name is an allusion to the year before the occupation of Palestine starting in 1948. Their lyrics, blending Arabic and English, call for celebration and freedom in the struggle for equality, not only in the “Sham” region (Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan), but around the world.
47SOUL 2019 TOUR DATES
9/19 – Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts – Philadelphia, PA
9/21 – Globalquerque – Alberquerque, NM
9/22 – Starline Social Club – Oakland, CA
9/23 – KEXP Recording – Seattle, WA
9/24 – Nectar Lounge – Seattle, WA
9/25 – Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN
9/26 – Lotus Festival – Bloomington, IN
9/28 – Pop Montreal – Montreal, QC, Canada
10/2 – Union Stage – Washington, DC
10/3 – Lincoln Center – New York, NY
10/4 – World Music Collider – Pioneer Valley, MA
10/5 – Boston University Global Music Festival – Boston, MA
ABOUT 47SOUL:
47SOUL is an Electro Arabic Dabke (Shamstep) band formed in Amman Jordan in 2013. The members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee to Ramallah and the rest of the Palestinian Diaspora. This new sound of 47SOUL has rapidly amassed fans in the Arab World, Europe, and around the globe by blasting the electric Arabic Dabke sound through alternative and street music scenes. On top of the beats that have been pumping in the Arab World for centuries, 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers, hypnotic guitar lines, group vocals, and melodic verses from the bands’ singers. Every show ends in relentless dance and trance from all audiences involved. Their lyrics, mixing Arabic and English, call to celebrate and advance the struggle for freedom and equality, inside Bilad Al Sham and throughout the world.