Danny Hajjar on Running Sa’alouni El Nas, the Past, Present and Future of Arab Music and the Data vs Human Curation Balance at Spotify Fox Tales - a music industry podcast by Stereofox

Danny Hajjar is a music journalist, curator, DJ, and creator of the newsletter Sa’alouni El Nas. The newsletter focuses on the music, culture, social, and political stories of the Middle East, North Africa, and the diaspora community. Danny has a wealth of experience, having worked at Spotify's Data Curation team and contributed to esteemed publications such as The Washington Post, Esquire, and The New Arab. 

His unwavering dedication and commitment to popularizing the rich culture of the region is commendable and inspiring to us. His rich overview of the music industry and dedication to be present and keep doing what he loves are among the reasons why we are more than honoured to welcome him to the Fox Tales.

The episode is published in the midst of the horrific earthquake that happened in Turkey and Syria. Our heart goes out to everyone affected. Below we are sharing a list of resources for people to donate and help.

List of resources for people to help and donate:

» Molham

» Syrian American Medical Society

» AKUT

» Turkish Red Crescent

Links

» Sa’alouni El Nas newsletter

» @DanielGHajjar (Twitter)

» Stereofox IG (@wearestereofox)

» our newsletter at Stereofox.com

» host (@himynameisivo)

» Join our Discord Server

Mentioned:

@bladelsham

@frenchysaysrelax

@dj.bonita

@narcynarce

@big_hass

@offendum

@thanksjoey 

@abdulisms

@norfafrica

Podcast notes

[2:50] on music in Danny’s life growing up

[06:10] on his goal when it comes to popularising music from the Middle East and North African region 

[07:20] on the creation of the Saaluni newsletter and how to stay consistent when it comes to content creation

[11:05] on the balance between music and social / political stories and how they humanize the culture 

[13:30] on the future of the newsletter and turning it into a media platform

[16:50] on music that resonates with you 

[19:30] on Danny’s career path toward, writing  

[24:00] on being part of the creator’s ecosystem and connecting with artists from the Middle East and North African region  

[27:10] key curators in the Arab Music / Middle Eastern scene

[29:30] the next growth wave of Arabic music

[33:35] Spotify, the Arab team there and what’s happening for artists from the region

[35:30] on everyone’s responsibility to explore and be open to global  music

[40:00 ] the balance between data and human curation aka the human vibe check at Spotify

[42:30] an advice for artists