A transplant to San Diego since adolescence, Elyanna was born in Nazareth like the one you know. Her origins are nevertheless distinct: Palestinian (of Christian faith) and also Chilean, hence these Latino-Oriental hybridizations adapted to the pop culture of 2024. Needless to say, the hard core of her fans shares these cultural roots, national flags in support.
Her appearance and face are reminiscent of Shakira, a Colombian superstar with Lebanese roots on her father’s side. But the approach here is much more pronounced on the oriental side: Elyanna exhibits her Arab culture without complex, she directly evokes traditional outfits, traditional dances, traditional rhythms, traditional melodies, traditional instrumentation (oud, derbouka, etc.). She adapts it all to a semi-electro and semi-instrumental pop that is most effective.
She enriches it all with reggaeton, EDM and soul/R&B which allows her to shine in the East as well as in the West, singing in dialectal Arabic at Coachella or sharing the stage with stars from the Levant and the Maghreb.
Well-versed in Arab culture, dancers contribute to the wow effect generated by Elyanna, duly evoking the joys and (especially) the sufferings of Palestinians experienced at the time of her Montreal show. And magnifying the strong character embodied by their increasingly popular employer on the pop planet.
crédit photo: Benoît Rousseau pour Osheaga
