Photo: Instagram.com/samaabdulhadiofficial
Nothing says ‘freedom’ quite like a powerful techno set coming straight out of Ramallah, Palestine. Determined and fierce, Sama’ Abdulhadi—also known as the “Queen of the Palestinian techno scene”, was first recognized at a boiler room set in 2018 that pulled a viewership of more than 7.8 million on Youtube. Just about two years later, the DJ is now on the line-up of artists who will play at Coachella this year, from April 16-23. Initially, Abdulhadi was meant to be part of Coachella 2020, but the festival was postponed due to Covid-19.
View this post on Instagram
The full line up of Coachella has finally been announced, revealing Harry Styles as a headliner along with global favorites Billie Eilish, Swedish House Mafia, and Kanye West. The three day festival hosts over 100 acts and performances from all over the world, including Sama’ Abdulhadi, who is set to play the same day as Eilish. Megan Thee Stallion, 21 Savage, Dixon, Current Joys and many more artists are also lined up to play the same day. 
Abdulhadi, who is also the brain behind one of the most viewed techno sets to date, is a Ramallah-born DJ who is slowly becoming one of the most in-demand Arab DJs in the world. “The weekend of the Boiler Room, I got 40 booking requests in one day. Before, I would get 20 requests a month, if I was lucky,” she once shared in an interview. So far, she has played at international festivals Nuits Sonores, Beyond the Valley, and IMS.Despite her worldly appeal, Abdulhadi’s background as a Palestinian automatically beings geopolitics into her career graph. Her passion for techno began as a means of escape from current events and her surroundings, which slowly transformed into a mental landscape that dissociated her from trauma. She was able to build a techno scene in Ramallah from scratch, adding it to the map of a global techno community.
Read Next: Music Lovers, Here Are 9 of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2022
