ZAYT EL OUD
“Zayt el Oud” represents a significant milestone in Nadine Altounji’s musical journey, showcasing her artistic growth. Nadine embraces her roots and sings in Arabic and English in this song.
Co-produced with WU-SEN, a Moroccan producer(Homa records) and artist based in Montreal, the song seamlessly blends soulful oud melodies with Afro beat rhythms, and introspective lyrics, creating a sound that is both innovative and timeless.
The title inspired by a playful comment from WU-SEN likening Nadine’s music to an extraction of oil derived from a metaphorical oud tree, the way olive oil would be extracted from an olive tree. The song "Zayt el Oud" aims to reclaim and celebrate the artists’ Arab roots, challenging simplistic and often dehumanizing media portrayal of Arabs. The collaboration includes WU-SEN reciting excerpts from internationally renowned Palestinian author Mahmoud Darwish's poem "Identity Card” reinforcing the artists’ stance on our current times.
Volume I
Bint El Balad is a celebration of women of South West Asian and North-African descent born in the diaspora. It celebrates women who dance between worlds and are transformed. The song brings together Nadine Altounji, Nadia Bashalani and Dana El Masri, three women whose roots run deep into the rich soil of their parents’ Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian homelands. Nadia and Dana are lead vocalists, while Nadine and Mark Alan Haynes together wrote and arranged the music. Nadine also plays the oud, an instrument which was also played by her great-grandfather from Aleppo and which she’s spent the past three years learning,
Nadine Altounji met poet/dancer Marcia Castro Gamarra at a party in Cusco, Peru in 2018 and their connection was instant. The two women spent time together working on concepts for songs as they bonded over discussions about art, women’s rights, colonialism, dispossession, and privilege in addition to their individual personal experiences with dealing with the complexities of embodying and existing within intersecting cultures and identities. Marcia offered to write a poem for Nadine about the women’s rights protests that had been ongoing in the region. “I ran home and looked for inspiration,” recounts Marcia. “I watched the news and started to think, why are we protesting? What are we looking for? What happened to the women in the protests?”
Escarba en mi alma emerged from a songwriting collaboration that reaches across borders. Inspired by the Peruvian guitar and dance style, form the Tondero, this song features Nadine Altounji on guitar and vocals. The music was written in collaboration with Pedro Diaz, a Montreal-based, Peruvian singer-songwriter. Peruvian poet and dancer Marcia Castro Gamarra, who Nadine met and bonded with while doing research for the project in Cusco, Peru, wrote the words. The Spanish lyrics poetically explore the deep and intimate longing to reclaim cultural knowledge, kinship and the roots that had been unearthed and hidden by the ravages of conquest, colonialism and time.
Volume II
Enracinées dans l’histoire (Rooted in History) or The Quest for Self
The upcoming release Enracinées dans l’histoire – Vol. 2, this time in the language of Molière (French), continues in with global sounds. A delightful blend of Western music, Latin percussion, Middle Eastern and electronic sounds are delicately woven together in a soothing setting. Co-produced by Mark Alan Haynes and Nadine Altounji, Enracinées dans l’histoire... brings together five original compositions, including one instrumental track. This Volume 2 follows in the footsteps of the previous EP The Stories that Tie Us to Trees - Vol. 1. Like the rootsystem of trees, human beings are connected to each other through their shared experiences, stories, and wounds. From social awareness to self-awareness, from uprooting to opening up to others, the journey of self-discovery is long. Enracinées dans l’histoire... opens with a charming melody enveloped in the soulful tone of a female choir — Nora Toutain, Sarah MK, Nadia Bashalani — and Peruvian percussion — Joseph Khoury. A metaphor for our lives or turning inward, Dans la folie de nos temps is undoubtedly a catchy tune.
In the madness of our times: or the scent of indifference.
Set to a laid-back ska tune, "In the madness of our times" portrays an uncertain future where individualism clashes with social indifference. To unite or disassociate? An epitome of post-pandemic expression, this new song lightheartedly reminds us of the ups and downs of our lives. "What do you do with your isolation? Do you dare to think differently? Are you caught in front of your screen? In the madness of our times."
An anthem to sisterly love, arriving with its share of conflicting emotions, Petite soeur nestles into the affectionate bond of a perpetually renewed sisterhood. In reminiscence of the family heritage, the oud, darbuka, riqq, and bendir beautifully embrace Nadine Altounji’s mellow voice. Funded by the women, femme, and non-binary collective Lotus Collective and Canada Council for the Arts, the video features five pairs of sisters. Complicity and euphoria come together in this celebration of sisterly friendship. Directed by Nadine and Miriam Altounji.
