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NAI BARGHOUTI - LIVE IN OTTAWA
Don’t miss the iconic Nai Barghouti, live in concert. The award-winning singer, composer and flutist has become one of the most distinguishable vocalists of a new generation of Palestinian and Arab artists.
غير مسموع
أمسية للحزن والأمل وحتى الفرح ..
لأولئك الذين لم تُسمع أصواتهم، ولم تُرَ وجوهُهم، للذين اختُزِلوا إلى أرقام، وللذين مُحي وجودهم من "السردية".
ليسوا بأرقام. لديهم وجوهٌ وأسماءٌ وأصوات. وكانت لديهم أحلام، أُطفِئت. الكثيرون يحبونهم ويفتخرون بهم، والآن سيفتقدونهم إلى الأبد.
لهؤلاء جميعا، وخاصة لأطفال غزة، نُهدي أمسية الحزن والأمل والفرح هذه.
نحزن على الأرواح الجميلة لأولئك الذين فقدناهم، ونأمل في تحقيق العدالة والحرية والكرامة والسلام الحقيقي لأولئك الذين ما زالوا على قيد الحياة، ما زالوا يبحثون عن الأمان، وما زالوا يحلمون رغم الكارثة التي لا توصف.
ليس صوتي سوى صدًى لأصواتكم الجميل
Unheard: An evening of grief and hope …
For those whose voices are unheard, whose faces are unseen, who are reduced to numbers, and whose very existence is erased from “the narrative”
They are not numbers. They have faces, names and voices. They had dreams that have now come to an end. They are loved and cherished by many who will forever miss them.
For all of those, particularly for the children of Gaza, we dedicate this evening of grief and hope. We grieve the beautiful souls of those we’ve lost, and we hope for justice, for freedom, for dignity, for real peace for those who are still surviving, still seeking safety, and still dreaming despite the overwhelming, unspeakable horror. My voice is but an echo of yours.
“…the Palestinian singer’s voice commands the track.”
Rolling Stone Magazine
“Very charming… beautiful, confident and so musical.”
Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)
ABOUT NAI
Nai Barghouti is an award-winning Palestinian singer, composer, and flutist. From her first concerts in Ramallah and Cairo at the age of 14 through her packed concerts at the London Jazz Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, the United Nations in New York and in renowned theaters in Paris, Washington, Istanbul, Amsterdam, London, Casablanca, Rabat, Kuwait and Beirut, the Jerusalem-born artist has been praised as a “classical diva” and an “exceptional virtuousa.”
Nai’s virtuosity, critics have said, evokes vocal qualities of three leading Arab divas—Asmahan’s velvety depth, Umm Kulthoum’s powerful projection, range and control, and Fairouz’s angelic and deeply emotive head resonance. Indeed, these three Arab legendary singers, together with the composers Sayed Darwish, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, and Zakaria Ahmad were the main influences on Nai as a young girl learning music and singing. Later in her life, she discovered blues and jazz, as well as classical Indian music, Brazilian music, and J. S, Bach! Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis and John Coltrane influenced her music and vocal techniques.
In her studies Nai explored these influences while developing her own unique vocal technique, NaiStrumentation, a layered ornamental technique for using the voice as a musical instrument, which wowed her professors as well as composers who worked with her.
“There is light in her voice!”
Amir Abdel Megid, prominent Egyptian composer
In 2021, Nai was awarded the prestigious Young Talent Award of the Royal Concertgebouw theater in Amsterdam.
In 2022, Nai debuted her critically acclaimed first album, Nai 1, a genre-defying, contemporary feat of passion, musicality, and vocal prowess. In it, she demonstrated NaiStrumentation by using her voice as an instrument to sing the famous and quite demanding Ottoman instrumental tune, Longa Hijaz Kar Kurd.
Nai loves to explore completely different genres of music. In 2023, she collaborated with the multiple grammy-award winning EDM artist Skrillex on their hit Xena to raving reviews in Rolling Stone, NME, Your EDM, Pitchfork, among others. In this song, Nai sings an old Palestinian folk wedding song to the electronic beats mastered by Skrillex to astonishing effect.
Nai combines her talent with academic study and achievement to deepen her knowledge of music and vocal techniques. She first studied classical music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and then jazz and vocals at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she was awarded a Master’s degree with highest honor in music. In her studies, Nai explored the nexus between Arabic Tarab music and Jazz, eventually inventing NaiStrumentation.
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