Things are changing on the Saudi dancefloor... and women are leading the way…

Nouf Sufyani – aka Cosmicat – is Saudi Arabia’s first female superstar DJ. In a country that only allowed women to drive in 2018 – after a 30-year ban – that’s quite an achievement. Born in the ’90s, when playing music in public was still considered a sin, Sufyani trained as a dentist after leaving school, but music eventually took hold of her life. Taking advantage of the social changes that were happening in modern Saudi Arabia, she secured her first DJ gig in 2018 before releasing her debut EP, Dilemma, in 2020.

Her house-based sound is melodic and progressive, with haunting vocal hooks and solid yet sinewy grooves – as evidenced at various international festival shows over the last year. And Sufyani’s success has caused ripples through the Saudi music scene, with several other female DJs following in her footsteps.

“Things are changing in Saudi,” she explains from her Jeddah studio. “Every year – every month, even – there are more Saudi artists making great dance music. Especially women. It makes me proud that the stigma around this career path for women is nothing to worry about anymore. The only way is up!”

: How long have you been interested in music?

NS: For my entire life! I remember my mom told me that when I was a toddler, I would request – very strongly! – my favourite cassette over and over again. Music was a big thing in our house and my parents used to listen to Arabic classics all the time.

: Who were the artist that made the biggest impact on you in those early years?

NS: My mother adored Abdel Halim Hafez, wellknown in Saudi Arabia – and elsewhere – for the famous sample used in Big Pimpin’ and created by Timbaland for Jay-Z. She also liked Khalid Abdulrahman, but my father was a big fan of Warda and Asala. Having said that, they both agreed when it came to the music of the living Saudi legend, Mohammed Abdu, which I also love and adore till this day. As I got older, though, I realised that none of the Arabic music I’d been listening to had really rubbed off on me. I was far more interested in the sounds of international pop, R&B and hip-hop.

When I think back now, I realise there were many artists that had an influence on me. Obviously, I spent a lot of my time listening to Queen B – Beyonce! But then there was Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Tupac, Justin Timberlake... Missy Elliott, of course. And Kylie Minogue. In some way, they all seemed to have influenced the sound of the music I make today.