Coldplay brings Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna on stage for a Glastonbury duo

Coldplay welcomed Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna on stage for her historic headlining slot at Glastonbury 2024.

The British band led by Chris Martin played on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday (June 29), one night after Dua Lipa impressed the audience with her own headline set – despite a sound problem during the BBC broadcast.

On Saturday (29 June), the band became the most headlined act with their fifth headlining appearance at Glastonbury and invited several guests including Little Simz, Laura Mvula and Back to the Future with Michael J. Fox as the star.

One singer who accompanied Martin and his bandmates for an extended period of time was Elyanna, an experimental pop star known for combining Arabic music with Latin rhythms.

Elyanna performed Coldplay’s 2019 song “Arabesque” with Femi Kuti, as well as “We Pray,” a new collaboration between the band, Little Simz and Burna Boy.

The 22-year-old singer, who rose to fame at the age of 15, is the daughter of a Palestinian poet, whose father is a Palestinian poet and singer and whose mother is a pianist from Chile.

Elyanna moved to San Diego, California in 2017 to pursue her musical career and rose to fame after posting cover versions on her Instagram page. She was eventually discovered by Grammy Award winner Nasri Atweh.

The singer, who recently performed a sold-out show at London venue KOKO, is signed to Universal Arabic Music – and made history as the first artist to sing in Arabic. The Late Show with Stephen ColbertShe wore a Palestinian Kufiya headscarf.

In 2023, Elyanna released a song dedicated to Palestine called “Olive Branch.” She initially shared the track on Instagram with the caption: “The past few days I’ve struggled with my emotions to put them into words. It’s been hard witnessing everything that’s been unfolding. I’m worried and praying for my family, friends and people back home.”

Towards the end of Coldplay’s headlining set, Chris Martin called for unity in what could be perceived as a “very divided time on Earth.”

Addressing the crowd, he said: “Thank you for giving us and me back the belief that most people, with all their flags, all their colors, all their genders, sexualities, ages and everything, can come together very peacefully and just sing, have fun and eat ice cream. There are no arguments, nothing like that.”

“So thank you for your inspiration. Hopefully together we can send all of this out into the world as a beacon of togetherness in a time when that may seem impossible. You just proved that it is. That’s amazing, thank you.”