Rawabet closing night w/ Deena Abdelwaheb + Mezar + Lynn Adib + prnc

Rawabet — Arabisch voor ‘connecties’ — is een internationaal project dat Europa en de Arabische wereld met elkaar verbindt, met een focus op de Arabische Levant, inclusief alle minderheden.

Van 5 tot en met 7 november 2026 vindt in Brussel het vierde en laatste Rawabet Festival plaats: drie dagen vol liveoptredens, muziek, multimedia en gesprekken. Ontdek overal in de stad nieuwe werken die zijn ontwikkeld dankzij de Rawabet productiesubsidies, waarbij kunstenaars en ideeën uit heel Europa samenkomen in een ruimte voor ontmoetingen, uitwisseling en nieuwe verbindingen tussen artistieke praktijken, culturen en grenzen.

Het Rawabet Festival, georganiseerd door de in Brussel en Beiroet gevestigde organisatie Ettijahat – Independent Culture, vormt het hoogtepunt van een driejarig Creative Europe-programma (2024–2026). En waar beter dan het Beursschouwdak tussen de wolken en de sterren van de Brusselse nacht, om de laatste dans te dansen?

FULL PROGRAMME >>

Organised by the Brussels–Beirut-based organisation Ettijahat – Independent Culture, the Rawabet Festival marks the culmination of a three-year Creative Europe programme (2024–2026). And what beter place than the Beursschouw-rooftop between the clouds and the stars of Brussels by night to dance the final dance?

20:30 (open)
21:00 performance by Deena Abdelwaheb & 3 artists
22:30 performance by Mezar
00:00 performance by Lynn Adib
00:30 dj set by prnc
01:00 dj set by Deena Abdelwaheb
03:00 (end)

Deena Abdelwaheb – Diwan Midi
Deena Abdelwaheb – vocals, computer music
Nidhal Jaoua – qanun MIDI
Imed Alibi - percussion MIDI
Widad Mjama – vocals

A contemporary exploration and reinterpretation of Arabic music via the Qanun MIDI, a prototype instrument developed at IRCAM. Deena Abdelwahed is rethinking the performance of electronic music by drawing on the intuition of Arabic music, a landscape where improvisation plays an essential role.
instagram.com/deena___abdelwahed/

Mezar
Chakib Kouidri – vocals, cigare box
Elsa Corgié – keyboards, backing vocals, violin
Mounir Hachemaoui – bass, backing vocals
Pablo Giusiano – drums

Mezar plays a Bedouin blues, carried by a trance rooted in Afro-Oriental heritage. Vocals, cigar box guitar, analog-toned synths, bass and drums build a sound that moves between hypnotic and euphoric, in service of a heritage still very much alive.
instagram.com/mezar_______/

Lynn Adib – Malakout
Syrian singer, composer, and improviser Lynn Adib brings together jazz, Arabic traditions, and sacred forms in a distinctive, fluid sound. From maqâm and Byzantine chant to free improvisation, her music moves between traditions, cultures, and sonic worlds. For Malakout, Adib takes the stage with the musicians who brought her forthcoming album to life in the studio. Together, they revisit its repertoire in an intimate live performance where voice, dialogue, and collective expression meet. Rooted in spirituality, memory, and transformation, Malakout opens onto a rich and immersive sonic landscape.
instagram.com/lynnadib/

prnc
prnc is a Palestinian DJ based in Brussels, weaving raw underground energy into sets that are as intimate as they are electric. Moving through driving grooves, trance-soaked rhythms, Arabic pop, traditional melodies, and fractured electronic textures, he builds sonic worlds where boundaries blur and bodies take over. For prnc, the dancefloor is a space for freedom, queer expression, and resistance.
instagram.com/prncjdg/

about

Ettijahat – Independent Culture was founded in Syria in 2011 and has since become one of the most active organisations supporting Arab arts in exile. With legal status in Belgium (ASBL) and deep roots across the Arab cultural landscape, Ettijahat operates at the intersection of two worlds – embedded in the realities of cultural production in the Arab region and fluent in the institutional logics of the European sector.

For over a decade, Ettijahat has developed sustained programmes supporting artists working under conditions of displacement, precarity, and political constraint, through residencies, production grants, mobility support, advocacy, and the creation of transnational networks. Rawabet is the most ambitious expression of this commitment to date, bringing together partners across five European countries to support emerging artists through a full three-year development arc.

This dual anchoring – in Europe and the Arab world – shapes the organisation's approach. Ettijahat neither imports nor exports culture; it works at the point where the two landscapes meet, with all the tension and possibility that entails.