Lebanese artist: When Coldplay appropriate Arab culture we should be grateful, when we do it - it's niche music?!?

Lebanese singer-songwriter Juliana Yazbeck wrote an excellent article in the Gal-Dem about double standards when it comes to the perception of Arab music. "Apparently, my music is 'hard to sell' and 'hard to categorise'. A former manager of mine – also an Arab – said to my face that if I were 'less niche' I could book bigger shows and get paid more (read: get paid what I deserve). Who decides how niche I am? I would imagine that decision is down to me. Meanwhile, acts like Coldplay appropriate and fetishise our people’s culture and suffering (see: their latest album 'Everyday Life'), and we are meant to be grateful for being noticed by them. The same door that closes for us opens for white artists appropriating Arab culture". And she's not that niche at all, as Juliana says herself, she is - "combining Arabic singing traditions with rap and genre-bending electronica".