About this game
An Arab singer or band every day, in ten guesses. Each name you pick returns country, continent, birth or formation year, solo or band, gender, and whether they are still going.
The pool runs from Mounira El Mahdeya, born 1885, to bands formed after 2010. It covers Egyptian tarab, Aleppan qudud, Iraqi maqam, Algerian raï, Moroccan malhoun, and Gulf, Sudanese and Mauritanian music.
How to play it well
Open with a well-known name from a large country and a middle generation. Umm Kulthum, Fairuz or Mohammed Abdu are all strong openers because they test country, continent and era in one move.
The continent cell matters more than it looks. Green on Asia puts you in the Levant and the Gulf. Green on Africa puts you in Egypt, the Maghreb or Sudan. That halves the list on your first guess.
The year cell gives you an arrow, and a gap of eight years or less turns amber. Use it. Guess someone born in 1960, get an amber arrow up, and you are looking at 1961 to 1968, which is a very narrow band.
Do not forget the bands. Plenty of players only guess individuals and get caught out when the answer is Cairokee or Nass El Ghiwane. If the act cell comes back grey after you guessed a solo artist, the answer is a group, and there are far fewer groups in the pool.
The status cell means still living for a person and still active for a band. Ended covers both.