Arab American Musicians to Share with Students

April is Arab American Heritage Month and this year it feels more important than ever to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Arab American musicians! There are so many amazing people to highlight, but here are a few of my favorites to share with elementary students.

Paula Abdul

As I was thinking about this list I realized I don't highlight dancers and choreographers enough in my classroom- Paula Abdul is an Emmy and Grammy award winning singer and dancer, and many students still recognize her from her time as a judge on American Idol. She has Syrian Jewish heritage. This video shows her singing and dancing with a song that elementary students can enjoy and even has a shot of the original American Idol judges at the end:

Amir Elsaffar

Amir Elsaffar is an Iraqi-American composer, singer, and trumpet and santur player. He combines jazz, Western classical, and Iraqi Maqam styles in his music. The beginning of this video shows his song "Hemayoun" where he starts off playing the santur and then switches to trumpet:

DJ Khaled

Of all the people on this list, students are most likely to recognize DJ Khaled, a Palestinian-American DJ and producer. My favorite song to share with my students is this one from the "Wrinkle in Time" movie with Demi Lovato- it's a great song with a great message, and of course includes his signature phrase, "another one" at the beginning:

Kareem Roustom

Kareem Roustom is a Syrian-American-Canadian oud player, director, and Emmy-nominated composer. He has written film scores, arranged for pop singers like Tina Turner and Shakira, and worked with many well-known classical musicians including Daniel Barenboim and the Kronos Quartet. I had a hard time picking just one video to share that represents his work, so here are two! The first is one of his more widely-performed pieces called Dabke, performed by a youth orchestra:

And here he is performing on oud:

I hope this gives you some new people and music to share with your students during Arab American Heritage Month and of course, all year long! They aren't US American but if you are looking for more musicians with Arab heritage to share with your students, here is my list of Contemporary Palestinian Musicians with lots of fantastic examples my students love!