Rasha Nahas on Alternative Rock Music From Palestine

Rasha Nahas is a multifaceted artist known for her distinctive approach to songwriting, storytelling, and performance.  The Palestinian singer, composer, actress, and instrumentalist has a unique sound that is rooted in her early training in classical guitar and her formative years in Haifa's underground music scene. Her genre-defying style weaves the traditional and popular music influences of her homeland with the raw intensity of electric rock.

Image credits: Reem Al Yafaey

Nahas’ debut album Desert (2021) was a personal chronicle of her migration from Haifa to Berlin. It was followed by a second album Amrat (2023) released through leading independent UK label Cooking Vinyl. Marking her first venture into Arabic-language lyrics, Amrat explores themes of urban and rural duality. Recorded at 67 Studio in the occupied Golan Heights, the album features contributions from notable musicians in Palestine's indie music scene and propelled her to tour across Europe, South America, the UK, North Africa, and West Asia, including shows at SIM São Paulo, Glastonbury Festival, Midem, Sziget, WOMEX, Berlin International Film Festival, and Palestine Music Expo.

Beyond her solo work, Nahas has composed and written work for film and theater, including creating original pieces for Berlin's performing arts scene, Hamburg's Thalia Theater, as well as for short, documentary and feature films. In 2024, she made a special appearance in Season 2 of We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4 / Peacock). She is also one of the first to receive the Bertha Foundation Artivism award. 

Listen to Rasha’s latets release:

Ghanneeli غنّيلي (Arabic for Sing For Me), is a song about resilience in an ongoing, almost-impossible, unfolding reality that we are witnessing as a global community. Led by delicate guitar work and spectral synths, the track builds into an intricately symphonic production layered under Nahas’ haunting vocals. The music video was filmed by a local crew on the shores of her hometown, Haifa.

Recorded between Berlin & Brooklyn, Ghanneeli features a collaboration with American pianist, keyboardist and synthesist Jason Lindner (on David Bowie’s Blackstar among many accolades) and long-term collaborator and co-producer, Jelmer De Haan.

Image credits: Reem Al Yafaey

How did growing up in Haifa shape your relationship with music and storytelling? Have you always expressed yourself in music as a kid?

Back home around that time we had to create our own spaces, and it was in these spaces and communities that the Palestinian underground emerged and developed. I feel blessed to have been around in that period, because it was a period of a somewhat virgin, pure, raw, complex, critical and intellectual scene, which really shaped who I am today. It was a very different energy to create in,  compared to today’s algorithm extravaganza. It was a space of community, of creating and shaping our narrative and claiming our spaces in a very physical sense – and the community was the foundation of the scene.

How has relocating to Berlin influenced your music?

It did in several aspects. The experience of immigration is a very powerful one. It takes years for it to unfold and for one to fully understand the meaning of such a move. This process is definitely present in my writing as well as in my sound.

What inspired your transition into the more narrative-focused style you’re known for today?

It happened naturally. I’m just not a person of genres. I go with the energy, with what needs to be said – it's a more honest process. For me, rock is about vitality, movement, resistance – it’s not only a genre. Plus, in today’s world, I feel a responsibility as an artist to share my experience, and speak up for the people who share the same experience, because as I was growing up, I did not feel that we were represented in our full complexity, context and beauty, and I’m happy to see more of that today and be part of the movement. 

Can you share the story behind your latest album, Amrat? How did it all come together?

Amrat was a very fluid process. I wrote many of the songs during the first year of the pandemic. It was a weird time because for the first time in our generation the wheel of capitalism was forced to stop. And I found myself writing from a space of reflection. I wrote many more songs for that album that didn’t make it in the final selection. But the moment I really realized it’s time to go to the studio is when I wrote “Al Madini”, one of the closest songs to my heart. The moment I finished writing it, I was like ok yalla let’s go… I flew back home and co-produced the album with my childhood friend and long-term collaborator violinist Shaden Nahra, and worked with a local group of incredibly gifted and soulful musicians like Rami Nakhleh from Tootard and Raymond Haddad from the pioneering Palestinian rock band al shat’ea (فرقة الشاطئ). We recorded in 67Studio in the occupied Golan Heights which, to be honest, I couldn’t think of a more right way to do things.

How do you approach songwriting, especially when navigating between Arabic and English lyrics?  

I feel many people have different approaches with lyrics, for me I try to keep it simple. Usually the first intuition is the right one: it just needs some small tweaks, but it’s all already there. As an immigrant, some of my closer relationships nowadays are not in my mother tongue: I speak four languages and it’s always nice to express different things in different languages. I feel it enriches our expression and it can reach beyond our direct environments. I write in whatever language comes at the moment. 

What are things you took from performing in international festivals like Glastonbury and Sziget?

I got booked there in Glastonbury in 2017 after playing the first edition of Palestine Music Expo and it was insane to be booked there as a 20-year-old independent artist. Back then I didn’t have the team, the experience or the resources I have today and it was definitely a moment that was like, “oh shit I need to get serious about this music stuff,” and things really changed since then.

Amid everything heavy that’s happening in Gaza, where do you draw your strength and find solidarity?

It is a hard question. What we are witnessing as a global community is beyond historical and disastrous. Despite the solidarity, one might also feel alone and threatened. I think it’s important to remind ourselves that we are not always 100% strong and allow ourselves to be human in front of it. What keeps me going is thinking about the stories of our grandparents – they survived and rebuilt, and that’s how I’m here. And we continue to be here.

Which artists influenced your music taste growing up, and who in today’s music world continues to inspire you?

I grew up listening to John Lennon and Fairuz mostly, then I got more into Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith and alternative Arabic bands like Mashrou’ Leila and Soap Kills.

Listen to this playlist of alternative Arabic music gems that Rasha shared with us:

Catch Rasha perform at the upcoming Habibi Festival & through her Tour dates:

Image credits: Reem Al Yafaey