The hip-hop group Desert Heat in Abu Dhabi (Photo credit: thenational.ae)

Earlier this month Saeed Saeed kicked off an eight part series on music in the Middle East in The National, an English language newspaper from the UAE. So far, Saeed has published the first three entries, which do a commendable job illustrating both historical perspective and the diversity of the contemporary music scene. Part one was on popular music in the UAE, part two on hip-hop, and the third part was on Algerian rai.  If the series can maintain the current level of quality, the next five installments will well be worth waiting for.