Spotify: Mic Check New Season: Palestinian Musician Rasha Nahas

 

 

Today, Spotify will release the first episode of “Spotify: Mic Check” of the new year with Palestinian singer-songwriter and guitarist, Rasha Nahas. The “Spotify: Mic Check” podcast series connects fans with the world’s biggest creators from around the globe through exclusively intimate conversations. You can find the full episode here. 

For this episode, the show heads overseas to sit down with Rasha Nahas, on the heels of her recent new single, “Al Madini” and her feature in Spotify’s SAWTIK program, which empowers women in Arabic music. Rasha’s style mixes Arabic and Western Rock Music influences under the backdrop of two cities - Haifa and Berlin and Rasha shares more on her experiences as an Arabic woman in Rock music, the influence of the guitar in her music and overcoming health obstacles. 

     

Please see below for interview highlights in the episode: 

 

• Rasha on how she got her start in music and the first time she picked up a guitar.
• “And I started studying classical guitar when I was 10. There was something about the guitar that always attracted me. I used to watch videos of people performing with the guitar, and singing. And I would see them stretch their neck, reaching to the microphone that they have like a strap of the guitar on their back. And I was drawn to it in a way. It always made sense for me. And the moment I started taking lessons, it just was the most organic thing ever.”

 

• Rasha on her battle with tendinitis and how she overcame health obstacles. 
• “If I want to write an idea, I need my hands. If I want to play a song, I need my hands. It was a really difficult time. It changed a lot of things in my life. I started performing a lot more only with my vocals, like only with a microphone, and with a band. And it gave me a lot of freedom and in a very weird way because, when you're performing with the guitar, you always have it hanging on your neck and you hide behind that to some extent. And I feel that it gave me a lot of space to just loosen up and and be a lot more open in my body onstage, which was a brilliant experience.” 

 

• Rasha on her first Arabic single, “Al Madini.”
• “Al Madini is my first Arabic single. I'm very excited about this, it's a song that means a lot to me. First of all, Al Madini in Arabic means “the city”, and it's a song that speaks about an encounter in the city and how the urban life around you can be alienating. The experience and interaction with urban life can sometimes feel so inspiring and sometimes you feel that it's closing in on you because there's too many people and trains passing and high buildings and you cannot look far and see the horizon? So for me, it's kind of a love song that is taking place in the city”

 

• Rasha on how music can shed more light on her perspective as an Arabic woman. 
• “I feel that music has a bigger role and it's touch people. It's to move people. It's to give a different narrative. It’s to challenge previous understandings. There are so many stories of Arab women that are marginalized. Not as often heard in the global scene, you know. And yes, I would love to be that voice, and I would love to also make space, for my community and for people who are listening to this music.”

 

• Rasha on participating in Spotify’s SAWTIK [rpgram.
• “So a year ago, I was part of Sawtik - an initiative by Spotify, a campaign that basically highlighted and gave the stage to Arabic women and music playlist curation, as well as the billboard placements in the Arab countries and press and stuff. And I was really happy to be part of this initiative because there's a lot of pressure on artists in general. And if you're a woman and if you're an Arab or if you're queer, it's just you have more of these pressures. It challenges you. It brings you far from being your authentic self, far from the art that you really want to do.”