Mo Shaahed

The streets of the Arab world are constantly rocking to the beats of a million songs. From the Arabian Gulf to the east to the alleyways of North Africa's Maghreb on the shores of the Atlantic, Arabic music forms a vast array of styles, genres, musical heritage and cultures, and Mo Shaahed has been at the forefront of explorers of this world of Arabic music for many years. A music producer and presenter for one of the world's biggest broadcasters in Arabic, he headed its music output and produced and presented countless music documentaries, both in Arabic for Middle Easter audiences and in English for the rest of the world.

As a judge on one of the most important World Music awards in Europe, The Awards for World Music, he helped shape the efforts and success of Arab artists in crossing over to a world stage and in doing so helped promote some of the leading crossover Arab stars on the World Music stage.

In 2005, he released his first compilation of the biggest hits in Arabic music in the 21st century up until that point, with subsequent compilations aiming to track the progress of Arabic pop as it made huge leaps in its influences, diversity and recording infrastructure. The Album quickly made it to the top of World Music charts around the globe.