[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

Alison Stewart: This is All of It from WNYC. From the studios, I'm Alison Stewart. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Tunisian singer/songwriter Nour Harkati calls his latest album his love letter to New York. It's an album that draws from eight years of living in the city, and combines the sounds of North African rhythms with the New York groove. The album is titled Moulena, and it drops on December 11th when Nour and his band will also be at Public Records for a special release show. But first, they're with me now in WNYC's Studio 5. Nour, welcome to All of It.

Nour Harkati: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for having us.

Alison Stewart: You're going to kick us off with a song-- Oh, hello, in the drum room. Hi, how're you doing? [laughs]

Nour Harkati: Surprise.

Alison Stewart: What a surprise. What are you going to play?

Nour Harkati: We're going to play the intro of the album, which is called Rahmen. It's a very, very important song, so I wanted to introduce that to you guys first.

Alison Stewart: Okay, let's go.

[Nour Harkati performing Rahmen]

Alison Stewart: That was Nour Harkati. That was beautiful, first of all.

Nour Harkati: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Alison Stewart: You said it's a very important song for people to hear. It's the first song on the album. What was very important about it?

Nour Harkati: I think-- I mean, it's probably important for me. I think this song is repeating, and by the way, this whole music is about repetition, to get into that trance state in a way. Rahmen in Arabic means "The Gracious," and this whole album is a dedication to the higher power. We always talk about our experiences in songs, and love stories, and real life experiences. But this time, I just decided to dedicate a whole album about just the higher power, you know, we never talk about, and stop a little bit to be grounded a little bit more and humble and talk more about what's above me, what's above my power. That's very humbling, I think. This is one of the first songs that I started the album with, so it has a special place in my heart.

Alison Stewart: You've lived in New York for eight years, right?

Nour Harkati: Yes, I sure did.

Alison Stewart: What brought you here?

Nour Harkati: Well, love brought me here--

[laughter in the background]

Alison Stewart: They're laughing. Oh my God. [chuckles]

Nour Harkati: Yes. I think love of the music, and love of my partner also, it's a combination. I was living in Paris for six years, then I lived in Berlin and I met my partner in Berlin, and we got married and we moved to New York, so that's how it started.

Alison Stewart: When you thought about putting this record together, does New York play a part in it? Does it play a part in your-- I heard you say, your higher power.

Nour Harkati: Yes, absolutely. I mean, New York plays a big role in terms of the sounds. When I first moved here, I started to try and be in the scene, but that's not how it works. You have to observe, you have to respect-- This is what I said to myself, I have to silently and patiently observe the city, learn more about it, and see where I can fit and be myself, not just fit in. And also, what can I contribute? Like, what's my sauce? What's my personal thing that I'm bringing with me, which is culture difference, inspiration. I think this album is kind of a fusion between the North African sounds and the New York street noise, drums, and bass, and jazzy vibes, so I tried my best to make the perfect mix for it.

Alison Stewart: You grew up in Tunisia, correct?

Nour Harkati: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Was music a big part of your life when you were a young man?

Nour Harkati: Yes. I grew up in a musical family, so my mom was a singer, and my dad was a violin player. They knew each other also, they met through music, so I was kind of bathed in music for a moment. More traditional, more Arabic music, but I definitely got inspired a little bit from my parents, and then-- Well, my dad passed away when I was six months, so I only knew my mom. She played both roles in a way, but she always kept music accessible to us, and that's how I got into it in the first place.

Alison Stewart: She was okay that you decided on it professionally?

Nour Harkati: No--

[laughter]

Nour Harkati: --of course not. She was like, "Finish your studies. What are you doing?" She wanted to do that, and once I knew music, there was no going back for me. I said, "This is it. I'm going to fight, I'm going to do my best, but I know that this is it for now, of course. And this is the path I want to take." It comes with a lot of pain, a lot of challenges, but I think it's definitely worth it.

Alison Stewart: Well, someone just texted us, "I just heard Nour perform live at Ridgewood Bar Dada on Tuesday. Great to hear him on All of It." So I guess you made the right choice.

Nour Harkati: Oh, awesome. Thank you so much.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Nour Harkati. The new album is going to be called Moulena. What does that mean for non-Arabic speakers?

Nour Harkati: Moulena means-- The closest meaning is "The Lord," and it's obviously-- This is not necessarily a religious album, but it's all symbolic. As I said earlier, it's something that's humbling and makes you a little bit grounded and take that moment to realize that there's always a higher power than you. The "Yes, we can thing," of course it's good, but sometimes, "Yes, we can't." There is some universe-- Whatever you believe in, there's always something above us that's guiding us or-- I don't know. I'm not going to speak for everybody, but this is my belief of-- Sometimes we let go, we humble ourselves a little bit to get better things, to get to a better way, I think, to a better path.

Alison Stewart: On your website, you described it as a fusion of tradition and modernity--

Nour Harkati: Yes.

Alison Stewart: So what traditional elements do we hear?

Nour Harkati: Well, we have the Guembri here. This instrument is a very, very ancient instrument. It started all in Africa, obviously, but traveled a little bit more north, so it went to Mali, Timbuktu, and then traveled a little bit more to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia. This is also an instrument that traveled to the US during those hard times, and African people brought their instruments with them. As you can see, there's a middle string here that probably reminds you of the banjo, and it's made with camel skin, olive wood, and goat gut skin-- Not skin, I'm sorry. Intestine, guts.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Okay, sure.

Nour Harkati: Sorry for the vegan people, but it's definitely a spiritual instrument. We have the Bendir-- Khalil is playing the Bendir also, which is a Tunisian frame drum, very percussive. And we have the New York stuff, the noise machine, the guitar, the drums, the bass, the core of New York.

Alison Stewart: So that's the modernity of it all.

Nour Harkati: The modernity, but also what represents New York to my ears. I mean, sorry we don't have a brass, but maybe for the next album, I think we can get it all sometime. That's my take on this. I try to always make something that's equally, so not my music hidden behind Western music, or vice versa. I want it to be equally mixed, and that's what I did on the album, I think.

Alison Stewart: Well, let's hear another song. What are we going to hear?

Nour Harkati: Yes, we're going to play this song called Sidi. Sidi means "The Saint," and in this song, I'm trying to vent about how New York is tough. Everything is tough, loneliness, homesickness, and everything, but it's definitely worth it, and there's more and more to come. It's kind of an Afrobeat song also, but yes, it's a festive song.

Alison Stewart: All right, here's Nour Harkati.

[Nour Harkati performing Sidi]

Alison Stewart: We'll have more with Nour Harkati after a quick break. This is All of It.

[music]

Alison Stewart: You are listening to All of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. I'm here in the studio with Nour Hakarti, who's performing songs from his new album, Moulena. He'll celebrate the album's release with a concert at Public Records on December 11th. Will you introduce your band to us?

Nour Harkati: Yes. Thank you so much. On my left, we have on the bass, Josh Ugoccioni.

Alison Stewart: Hi, Josh.

Josh Ugoccioni: Hello.

Nour Harkati: On the drums, we have Leo Yucht.

Alison Stewart: He's the guy that surprised me--

Nour Harkati: Yes, he's the guy.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] I'm sorry about that.

Nour Harkati: And on this side, we have the Tunisian members. We have Khalil Lajmi on the effects and Bendir--

Alison Stewart: Very nice to meet you.

Nour Harkati: --and we have on guitar here, Yusuf Khayari.

Alison Stewart: And you are, Nour Harkati.

Nour Harkati: And I am Nour Harkati.

Alison Stewart: Ooh, I like the way you say it. You say it better.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: So you're singing this album in Arabic?

Nour Harkati: Yes. It's mostly Tunisian dialect, but I try my best to stay close to the Arabic. Most Arabic countries would probably understand, but this is the Tunisian dialect of Arabic.

Alison Stewart: But you sang in English before in other albums, yes?

Nour Harkati: I did, when I thought I'm going to be Justin something-- Justin Bieber or something, when I was in high school.

[laughter]

Nour Harkati: Yes, that was fun, but I think it wasn't for me. I think when I moved to the US, I just figured that, as I said earlier, I have to bring something. I don't have to necessarily, but New York is always based on culture difference, immigrants, people who come from overseas to bring ideas, cultures, and new fresh visions. Not necessarily always, "Oh, the immigrants are coming to take the jobs," you know? It's not always like that. There's other perspectives to the immigration, and I'm sure the good New Yorkers know that so well. So I wanted to do this album not only in Arabic, but like put the North African sound in it. The singing in English thing, it was a dream of high school, you know, but--

Alison Stewart: Yes. And this is also, I think, authentic. It's who you are.

Nour Harkati: Yes, exactly. Because New York wants you also to be who you are. New York wants you to be bold and kind of upfront. New York doesn't want you to be a copycat, necessarily, or take from it without giving it, you know? You have to feed the city.

Alison Stewart: Your album begins with a bird song. What bird is it? Do you know?

Nour Harkati: Which bird? I'm sorry?

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: There's a little recording of a bird.

Nour Harkati: Oh, the first-- Yes. So my partner and I, we go upstate because her parents, they live upstate partially, and they have a lot of-- Of course, it's a forest, so I recorded some stuff there, like just as a peaceful intro of the album, and there was a lot of birds around me, so--

Alison Stewart: You went for it.

Nour Harkati: Yes.

Alison Stewart: You'll be at Public Records on December 11th when the album comes out, and on your Instagram, you wrote about it, "Can't wait to clap with you."

Nour Harkati: Yes. I love when people clap from the heart, not necessarily like this-- [makes feeble hand claps] I want people to be like full-on open hands, like really-- Because the clap, if you really think about it, we relate it most of the time to encourage people, or like to say bravo on something, but it's not really like that. It's a whole energy that leaves your body. It's like a kind of a meditative thing. It could get you in a trance-- In a good trance, obviously, if you really intentionally clap and like-- It's like it's basically an instrument, but it's coming from you. And this music requires a lot of clapping. I don't know if you noticed that when we were trying to do it, but--

Alison Stewart: I love it, yes. Do you ever change your songs or your performance based on how the audience reacts? Or you're just like, "No, this is who I am, and this is the way I'm going to play it."

Nour Harkati: I used to when, of course, the confidence was kind of low, so I always tried to satisfy who's in front of me. But now, it's like, what you see is what you get, but not in a rude way necessarily. It's just, this is what I'm offering. If you feel it or if you try to spend some time thinking about it at least, you're more than welcome. But if not, I'm sure, and I'm happy if you find something that sounds better to you.

Alison Stewart: What's the plan at Public Records for the big show?

Nour Harkati: Yes, so we're releasing the album there. It's the first time I'm going to release records, like actual vinyls. This is the first time I'm doing it, and we're playing with a great artist also, a singer/songwriter. She grew up in New York, I think, in the city. Her name is Odetta Hartman, and she's going to be playing first. She released her album already last year, I think. I'm going to announce the album on the day of the release, so it's December 11th show and release, both digital and physical, and it's going to be fun, I think.

Alison Stewart: Can we hear one more song?

Nour Harkati: Yes, obviously. Of course.

Alison Stewart: This is Nour Harkati.

[Nour Harkati performing song from Moulena]

Alison Stewart: You've been listening to Nour Harkati perform songs from his new album, Moulena. He'll celebrate the album's release with a concert at Public Records on December 11th. Thank you so much for being with us.

Nour Harkati: Thank you so much for having us. That was beautiful.