Mayssa Karaa Elevates the Performing Arts in Abu Dhabi The singer-songwriter serves as artistic director of Berklee Abu Dhabi, where she and her team are breaking new ground and bringing cultures together.
By
Daniel Pesquera
March 30, 2023
Mayssa Karaa B.M. '12 grew up in Beirut, singing along to the Arabic music that would become an inseparable part of her identity. She carried this music on her artistic journey from Lebanon to Berklee, Hollywood, Bollywood, and all the way back to the Middle East, where now she serves as the artistic director of Berklee Abu Dhabi.
Karaa's r sum as an international hitmaker reflects her range as a vocalist and songwriter. She recorded a globally-celebrated version of White Rabbit for the Grammy-nominated American Hustle soundtrack; had a no. 1 hit on Apple Music India with her A.R. Rahman-produced track Hayati, and earned over 34 million views for The Arabic Alphabet Song from Sesame Street.
But many of her proudest achievements have happened outside the studio. Karaa served an instrumental role in the initial negotiations for the 42,000-square-foot Berklee Abu Dhabi Center, which represents the only site of a North American institution for music and performing arts in the Middle East. She was a founding member and artistic director of the Firdaus Orchestra, the first all-women orchestral ensemble in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which recently accompanied Beyonc at the Expo City Dubai. Karaa will also be involved in an upcoming campaign for breast cancer awareness sponsored by the UAE's Ministry of Health.
While Karaa recognizes that they are still in the beginning of the journey and have a long way to go in terms of raising the profile of the performing arts in the Middle East, she also said that there are many key advancements being made, including the recent launch of the Berklee Abu Dhabi Fellowship Fund. As Berklee celebrates Women's History Month, we dove deeper into what inspires Karaa, her work with Berklee Abu Dhabi, and her role within a community where the arts and cultural expression are making important strides.
You were recently honored with a Pride of UAE award at the Global Business Symposium 2023, held in Abu Dhabi. Congratulations on this accolade! Do you take a special kind of pride in being celebrated by the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) region? The fact that the symposium acknowledges the music business and entertainment industry in addition to people from so many different backgrounds was definitely something encouraging. Being originally from the region and witnessing the growth that has happened here has been pretty fascinating, so I'm happy to be part of this kind of change. It was a great honor and it empowers me to do more and to keep investing in the vision that I have for this industry here.
Have your experiences as an artist, a performer, and a music business entrepreneur impacted how you approach your role at Berklee Abu Dhabi? As an artist, it's all about creating and that is what inspires me to keep doing what I do. I bring a lot of creativity to my job, and pairing it with the work I'm doing as an artist helps me fuel my ideas. I see a great added value to have people who are working within the [academic] establishment to be active in the industry, because they become a good role model for the students. Everyone who has been hired here in Abu Dhabi has this kind of profile.
Mayssa Karaa performs at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi
How has the experience in Abu Dhabi inspired you in ways you weren't expecting? I like the entrepreneurial spirit and I feel like it's something that inspires me every day [at Berklee Abu Dhabi]. When we came here, it was like a start-up. We had to define the direction that we wanted to move forwards with and test the waters with so many different things. We want to make sure we are filling the gaps with what is needed here rather than impose something that we assume is going to function. It has been very inspiring to be part of this study of what it is that Berklee can do in this part of the world. What continues to motivate me is seeing artists that walked into this space and are now either signed to music labels, have high streams on social platforms, or have gotten accepted into other Berklee programs, including Boston, New York, and Valencia. It's a crucial time for Berklee Abu Dhabi to be here because there is nothing like it in the region. I'm looking forward to witnessing more success stories of our students. It's always inspiring to see the things they are achieving.
Your music embodies a cross-cultural philosophy, in both the way you blend styles and the message you put behind the music. What role did your time at Berklee play in helping you to define that idea, and how is it reflected in your work at Berklee Abu Dhabi? I was raised on and grew up singing Arabic music. I was very influenced by the local culture and it's something that was always very relevant to everything I did. Even before moving to the U.S., I was exposed to western music and trained in the classical world. But it was my experience at Berklee that helped me realize we can't put our creativity in a box. I had been struggling to define what it is that I do. Being at Berklee, I was surrounded by people from so many places and so many styles of music that I had never come across. I ended up getting opportunities like singing in a Bollywood movie, and singing Balkan music in Serbia, which came out of a small Balkan group at Berklee. It really helped me free myself from those limitations in terms of my identity as an artist. At Berklee Abu Dhabi, we try to instill that same mindset. The program brings together people of different backgrounds from all over the region, and every semester they end up collaborating with each other. W
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
15/11/2026
Can VideoProc AI Really Reduce Noise and Enhance Blurry, Old Footage? Real-World...
14/11/2026
Longtime MLB Network employee David Maybrown passed away Thursday at the age of 57. David joined MLB Network in 2009 shortly after its launch, beginning as an i...
14/11/2026
Modular innovators introduce two guitar-based products
ADDAC System's recently introduced Four String Series makes it possible to integrate physical str...
14/11/2026
Marcelo Dai's Live Session Captured with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
Artist takes viewers on an immersive journe...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
Mayssa Karaa Elevates the Performing Arts in Abu Dhabi The singer-songwriter serves as artistic director of Berklee Abu Dhabi, where she and her team are breaking new ground and bringing cultures together.
