It started with a simple jam session. No press. No plan. Just a group of women playing music they wanted to hear, and a city finally ready to listen.
Three years ago, a couple of sisters jamming at home met a stranger on Instagram, bumped into a curly-haired drummer at a music event in Riyadh, and decided the chemistry was just too good not to plug in. Fast forward to today: they’ve released a full-length album, played the Saudi festival circuit, and are now packing up for a Europe tour with shows in Malmö, Hamburg, and Berlin.
If that sounds a bit punk fairytale, it kind of is.
Seera is made up of four Saudi women: Nora on vocals, keys and synths, her sister Meesh on bass, Haya on guitar, and the ever-mysterious Thing on drums – who performs masked, not because she’s hiding, but because she’s having fun.
“Why did Daft Punk wear masks? Were they running from the cops?,” Thing jokes to Saudi Streets. “No one questioned them. So why not us.” Her mask, made from vintage fabric that once covered her mother’s antique table, is part tradition, part theatrics, and entirely her own.
Seera’s sound sits somewhere between dreamy and defiant. Call it psychedelic rock, if you must. But really, it’s storytelling disguised as distortion, music that weaves Arabic maqam scales with electric riffs and themes of vulnerability, self-doubt, and resilience.
“We write from a place of collective struggle,” says Nora to Saudi Streets. “It’s not about us as individuals. It’s about what so many people feel but don’t always know how to say.”
They didn’t grow up with music classes or school bands — just the internet, a lot of trial and error, and a few patient neighbors. “YouTube was our teacher”, says Meesh. “My mom got us our first instruments when I was 12, and Nora was 14, and we just took it from there”. Like many of their peers, the four women who make up Seera learned by doing, with YouTube as their teacher and the living room as their first stage.
Their biggest early supporter? Their parents. Nora and Meesh’s mom, for example, didn’t just cheer them on; she even inspired and helped write some of the lyrics of one of their upcoming tracks, a song about the kind of advice that travels from one generation to the next.
“We’re building this scene from the ground up”, says Haya, who cites Fairuz and classic Arabic music as key influences. “That’s the beauty of being part of something new – we get to help shape what it becomes.”
From Homegrown Sounds to Global Stages
Seera’s debut album, released last December, was two years in the making and includes a collaboration with Egyptian artist El Waili. Coming up next are four new tracks, including one for an international charity called EarthSonic that samples the calls of endangered animals – and yes, it slaps. “We wrote it from the villain’s perspective,” Nora adds. “Because sometimes you’re the problem, and that’s worth writing about too.”
When asked if they feel like rebels in a male-dominated music industry, the band collectively shrugs. “People assume rock is about rebellion,” says Nora, “but for us, it’s about release. Anger, sadness, frustration, it’s all there in any household, any city, any person. Rock just lets us say it out loud.” They’ve been mistaken for rebels, misunderstood as a novelty act, and, occasionally, unrecognized in public because Thing wasn’t wearing her mask. “We’ll be out at a show, all four of us standing together,” laughs Nora, “and someone will go, ‘Where’s Thing.’ Like, she’s right there. Maskless.”
Despite their genre’s niche appeal, Seera’s music has sparked unexpected reactions: fans picking up instruments, covering their songs, or sending emotional messages about lyrics that struck a nerve. “That’s all we ever wanted,” says Nora. “To move people. If one person listens to a track and decides to write or sing or scream or start something new. That’s the dream.”
Their most streamed song so far? Nafas. A track that’s a little softer on the ears but still soaked in Seera’s signature blend of emotion, melody, and thoughtful edge. It was also part of Spotify’s Fresh Finds Arabia program and features the signature fingerprints of each member, down to the last bassline and brushstroke.
Seera recently played a set at Attaché in Riyadh and is now gearing up for their first Europe run, starting in Malmö on July 12, then heading to Hamburg, Berlin, and Biel, Switzerland in October.
In the end, Seera isn’t trying to be the loudest band in the room – just the most true to themselves. And for a generation hungry for honesty, that might just be the most radical sound of all.
Find Seera’s music, keep up with their latest events and more by clicking here.
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