33rd Festival and Conference of Arab Music

15 July 2025

Arab Music in the Age of Digital Transformation: Prospects and Challenges

Since the early 20th century, Arab music has kept pace with most of the changes that have shaped life in the Arab world, including the profound impact of digital revolution in recent decades. Technological developments have profoundly influenced the structure, production methods, and performance practices of Arab music. From the emergence of phonograph records in the early 20th century, the rise of cinema and radio, reaching the massive advancements of the internet and artificial intelligence applications.

Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technologies across all facets of life. In the realm of music, this transformation includes the use of computers, software, streaming platforms, and artificial intelligence in the production, distribution, and consumption of musical works. This transformation redefines every aspect of the musical process from its initial creation to its final release, involving distinct stages like composition, recording, and distribution as well as the audience interaction.

Accordingly, discussing this topic has become essential, given the undeniable influence of these new realities on all facets of Arab musical creativity.

The main theme of this year’s Conference seeks to examine both the opportunities and challenges confronting Arab music in light of the sweeping digital revolution. It also aims to explore the emerging knowledge-based values that foster broader participation while simultaneously presenting complex new realities.
The Conference theme explores four main topics:
1. The Future of Arab Music in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
2. Prospects for Music Education in Light of Technological Advancements.
3. Documenting Visions: From the 1932 Cairo Conference to the Digital Revolution.
4. Challenges of Producing Arab Music (Composition, Arrangement, Distribution, and Performance) in the Context of Digital Transformation.
The Conference’s scientific committee is delighted to invite submissions of research papers on topics covering the above-mentioned issues and perspectives based on the following guidelines and regulations:

▪ Papers should be original, never published before or previously presented in any seminar or conference, and closely related to the perspectives of the Conference.
▪ Papers should not exceed 20 pages on standard A4 paper size, written in Microsoft Word format – 14pt Simplified Arabic font (for Arabic) or 12pt Times New Roman font (for English) – and 1.5-line spacing.
▪ References are to be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. Scores of the chosen musical pieces have to be provided.
▪ A one-page abstract in both Arabic and English has to be provided at the end of the paper to describe the basic content of the research paper.
▪ A short biography of the researcher, approximately six lines, has to be included.
▪ Researchers are required to give PowerPoint presentations of no longer than 15 minutes that include the research’s theme, methodology, illustrative models, results, and recommendations.
▪ Papers should be submitted by e-mail before August 25th, 2025 to the following email address: musicfestivaleg@gmail.com for the review process.
▪ Papers submitted after the deadline or violating any of the above-mentioned guidelines are going to be disregarded.
▪ Accepted candidates are going to receive an official invitation via email from the Cairo Opera House admin.
▪ Conference sessions are going to be held at the Cairo Opera House campus and have to be attended in-person. In this respect, the Cairo Opera House is going to bear the hotel accommodation and the local transportation (from and to the airport and from the hotel to the Cairo Opera House and vice versa) of accepted candidates during the duration of the Conference
▪ Accepted candidates are going to bear the flight tickets.