Firas is a BAFTA winning composer, director and music industry executive who has been a driving force in the Arab music scene and its global reach for close to two decades. In 2018 he founded Mashrou’ Leila, described by The Guardian as ‘The Voice of a Generation, in Beirut. The band went on to win numerous accolades and kickstart a renewed interest in Arabic-language music worldwide. He has collaborated with a long list of storied artists and musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Roisin Murphy, Mika and others. He has composed music for a host of award-winning productions for Netflix, Film4 and the BBC. Most recently, he scored ‘The Shamima Begum Story’, which has become the BBC’s most successful production to date with over 15 awards and dozens of nominations, winning the 2024 BAFTA. Away from composing and performing, Firas has worked with the likes of Apple, the V&A Museum, MDLBEAST and others to produce cultural films that documents Arab stories across the arts and culture industry. Firas is a member of the Recording Academy in New York. He has taught and lectured at NYU, Columbia, Dartmouth, SciencesPo. He is currently leading a team at TikTok Music in Dubai, placing the fastest-growing music region firmly on the global stage