Rasha Nahas Previews Habibi Festival Live in Studio

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Episode: Rasha Nahas Previews Habibi Festival Live in Studio
Date: October 10, 2025
Guest: Rasha Nahas, Palestinian singer, songwriter, and guitarist

This episode spotlights Rasha Nahas as she performs live, discusses her music, and previews her participation in the fifth annual Habibi Festival—a concert series highlighting musicians from Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA). The conversation explores the personal and political threads in Nahas' songwriting, her cross-cultural influences, and the significance of artistic spaces for Arab artists in the West.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introducing Rasha Nahas & The Habibi Festival

• [00:09] Alison Stewart sets the stage, introducing Habibi Festival as “the week-long concert series featuring musicians from the SWANA region: Southwest Asia and Northern Africa.”
• Nahas, a Palestinian artist now based in Berlin and New York, is a featured performer at the festival, recognized for her latest solo work and for a cameo in We Are Lady Parts.

On “Ranili”: Music as Survival & Testimony

• Live Performance: Nahas performs her recent single, “Ranili” (“Sing for Me”).
• [05:22] On the origins of the song, Nahas explains:

  “I started writing [Ranili] shortly after the genocide started and it was a time where I really kind of lost my voice, lost words for what was happening...Everything changes fast. I still didn't get used to this autumn. The winter came without knocking on the door. Flooding the land with blood and water, but the roses promised me a bloom in spring.”

• [06:10] She frames the song as “about hope, about resilience, about making music as survival, as documenting the times as an offering to my community.”

Identity, Instrumentation, and the Creative Process

• [06:51] The conversation turns to Nahas’ musical beginnings:

  “Not really piano actually, with like oriental keyboard. Very specific choices.”

• [07:04] On choosing guitar:

  “I just fell in love with it… It’s a relationship that I cannot explain.”

• [07:57] Her musical upbringing:

  “With my dad, I listened to John Lennon a lot. And with my mom, it was more Fairuz...also the Palestinian underground scene...the Arabic independent alternative music.”

• [08:56] Nahas acknowledges her “immigrant” identity, carrying “all these different worlds that I moved between. We live in a world where identity is not one thing. It’s a construct of many things… I’m just grateful to be able to channel that through my art.”

Classical Guitar & Layered Influences

• [09:45] Alison asks about the impact of classical guitar study:

  “It taught me a lot of discipline...technique is really precious. I think it gave me a lot of freedom...like a wider, richer palette. It’s like a language… Classical music is very layered. It taught me the complexity within the simplicity…”

“Once Upon a Time in Palestine” – Memory & Dedication

• [11:14] Nahas introduces an unreleased song:

  “It’s about a lime tree that my grandfather planted in our backyard… He’s not with us anymore, and I would love to dedicate this song to his soul.”

• Live performance follows, blending English and Arabic influences.

Language, Belonging, Songwriting

• [15:41] On writing in Arabic vs English:

  “I saw it as a barrier...now I see the richness and the opportunity to bridge. My Arabic songs open new territories, my English songs open others, and sometimes they intersect. Arabic is my mother tongue, but English is the language I had all my adult relationships in...It’s very intuitive.”

Berlin, New York & The Search for Space

• [16:49] On moving to Berlin:

  “Growing up in Haifa...there was a lot more than a glass ceiling. There was an occupation...your identity is not free to just be. As a young queer artist woman, I was seeking some more space to...just be for a second...Berlin somewhat offered that.” “I was very attracted to the Weimar era theater, cabaret...it reflected in my first album. Berlin is home now...love and hate. ”

• [18:32] On the balance between New York and Berlin:

  “I just love New York...there’s a lot of synergy. I put out energy and get something back...also there’s an amazing community here. For example, Habibi Festival, creating an Arabic SWANA-centered music festival in today’s political climate...so important to have this representation.”

• [19:30] On combating negative representation:

  “As Arabs, we’re fighting years and years of propaganda, misrepresentation, dehumanization...We’re just sick of proving that we’re humans...Spaces like Habibi Festival create this alternative, safer space where we just perform excellent art...valued for its quality and not this western gaze.”

Live Performance & New Music

• [20:14] Nahas reflects on her previous night’s show at Joe’s Pub:

  “It was beautiful...a full house, beautiful audience. It was honestly like the perfect welcoming into the city.”

• [20:53] Confirms she’s recording a new album in Brooklyn: “The demos are done. The team is locked in...I can’t wait, honestly.”

“Skies Don’t Care”: A Song from Jerusalem’s Rooftops

• [21:28] Nahas introduces another original:

  “‘Skies Don’t Care’...I wrote at the age of 17 on a rooftop in Jerusalem...looking at the old city and the apartheid wall. My friend pointed at the sky and said, ‘The skies don’t care.’ I wrote this text on my phone and this song happened.” “I would love to finish with it today and dedicate it to the people back home for their resilience and beauty.”

• The live performance resonantly weaves themes of conflict, resilience, and universality.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On making music in dark times:

  “It’s a song about hope, about resilience, about making music as survival, as documenting the times as an offering to my community.”
  (Rasha Nahas, [06:10])

• On identity as an artist and immigrant:

  “We live in a world where identity is not one thing. It’s a construct of many things and many places and a lot of movement.”
  (Rasha Nahas, [08:56])

• On art, representation, and safe spaces:

  “We’re just sick of proving that we’re humans to people...Spaces like the Habibi Festival create this alternative, safer space where we just perform excellent art, you know, and art is valued for its quality and not like this western gaze.”
  (Rasha Nahas, [19:30])

• On inspiration behind “Skies Don’t Care”:

  “My friend pointed at the sky and said, ‘The skies don’t care.’ I wrote this text on my phone and this song happened.”
  (Rasha Nahas, [21:35])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:09] Introduction, Habibi Festival background
• [01:00] “Ranili” – live performance
• [05:22] Song background: music as survival
• [06:51] Musical upbringing, guitar
• [07:57] Musical influences
• [09:45] Studying classical guitar
• [11:14] “Once Upon a Time in Palestine” – dedication and live performance
• [15:41] Writing in Arabic vs. English
• [16:49] Moving to Berlin and seeking freedom
• [18:32] Balancing Berlin and New York, the need for cultural representation
• [20:14] Reflections on Joe’s Pub performance
• [20:53] Confirming new music recorded in Brooklyn
• [21:28] “Skies Don’t Care” – introduction and live performance

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Conclusion

This episode of All Of It offers a vivid, thoughtful portrait of Rasha Nahas—her artistry, her multifaceted identity, and her commitment to using music as both expression and testimony. Through live performances and candid conversation, the episode celebrates cultural resilience, questions of belonging, and the importance of community and representation for Arab artists in diaspora. Listeners are left with a sense of the power of both music and shared spaces, especially within the currents of politics, migration, memory, and hope.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Habibi Festival entered its fifth year this week. That's the week long concert series featuring musicians from the Swana region, Southwest Asia and Northern Africa. Swana. This year's performers include musicians from Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, and my next guest, Rasha Nahas. Nahas is a Palestinian singer and songwriter who you might recognize if you're a fan of We Are Lady Parts, the show about an all female and all Muslim British punk band. Nahas latest album, Amrat, chronicled her move from Haifa, where she was born and raised, to Berlin. She'll be performing her second set of the week at Joe's Pub tomorrow night as a part of the Habibi Festival, which runs through Sunday. Rasha, it is so nice to meet you.

[Rasha Nahas]

Thank you for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

What is the first song we're going to hear?

[Rasha Nahas]

The first song is my latest single. It came out recently. It's called Ranili. Ranili means sing for me.

[Alison Stewart]

Sa.

[Chorus Singer]

Has.

[Rasha Nahas]

Sa.

[Interviewer 2]

That was Rasha Nahas singing Ganili. It's her latest single from her new album. It's Arabic for sing for me.

[Rasha Nahas]

Who is that for? It is a song that I started writing almost two years ago. And yeah, I started writing it shortly after the genocide started and it was a time where I really kind of lost my voice, lost words for what was happening. And yeah, like, I'll translate the second verse. Maybe Everything changes fast. I still didn't get used to this autumn the winter came without knocking on the door Flooding the land with blood and water but the roses promised me a bloom in spring.

[Interviewer 2]

Mm.

[Rasha Nahas]

And yeah, it's a song about hope, about resilience, about making music as survival, as documenting the times as an offering to my community.

[Interviewer 2]

Do you see that as your role as a musician?

[Rasha Nahas]

I think role is a very big word in today's world.

[Interviewer 2]

Yeah, like your purpose, maybe?

[Rasha Nahas]

Maybe. Yeah, in some way or another. Yeah, definitely.

[Interviewer 2]

Before you played guitar, you played piano. Is that true?

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah, yeah. I started like, not really piano actually, with like oriental keyboard. Very specific, very specific choices.

[Interviewer 2]

How did guitar become your instrument?

[Rasha Nahas]

I just fell in love with it. I don't know how to explain. It's just I was always drawn to this instrument. I saw people kind of like, you know, musicians performing with their guitars and, like their necks bending over to the microphones and something about the connection, like how it merges with the body. It just always was kind of appealing to me and it just happened. I don't know. It's a relationship that I cannot explain.

[Interviewer 2]

It's interesting because hearing that beautiful, soulful.

[Alison Stewart]

Song, I'm thinking of an acoustic version I heard of you playing the clown. And it had a sort of like. To an American ear, it sounded like a blues beat going on. And I wondered, what kind of music did you listen to growing up? Did you listen to American blues? What did you listen to?

[Rasha Nahas]

I was lucky enough to be, like. I grew. I grew up surrounded with a lot of different kind of music. And so. And like, with my dad, I listened to John Lennon a lot. And with my mom, it was Morfeirouz.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, she's the best. Yeah, she's the best.

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah. No, she's an absolute legend and an icon. And you know as well as, like, you know, the Palestinian underground scene that I was surrounded by, and also the Arabic independent kind of alternative music that was kind of also having a moment when I was. Yeah. Like, few years ago, and I was still kind of shaping my musical landscape.

[Alison Stewart]

It sounded like just a lot coming from a lot of different places down their way to you.

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah. And. And I studied classical guitar, so. And classical guitar, so it's. Yeah. You know, I feel like as an immigrant in today's world, I just contain all these different worlds that I moved between. And I think it's such a precious, rich thing to feel and to. And to channel. And I'm just. Yeah, I'm just. I think we live in a world where identity is not one thing. It's. It's a construct of many things in many places and a lot of movement. And I'm just grateful to be able to channel that through my art.

[Alison Stewart]

It's interesting to hear you say that you studied sort of classical guitar. What did studying classical guitar teach you about? All those other influences teach you about the blues, teach you about the Palestinian underground scene is. What did it teach you?

[Rasha Nahas]

What did it teach me? I mean, it taught me a lot of things, you know, as a kid. It taught me a lot of discipline.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah, sure. That's a. That's a big deal.

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah. And I think that technique is really precious. I think it gave me a lot of freedom to express myself. And it just gave me a lot, like, a wider, richer palette of, like. It's like a language. Right. Like, I just have a wider Alphabet in a way. And. Yeah, I think, like, classical music, you know, is very layered. It's very complex. It's very. Also something very natural about it. You know, it's like a tree in a forest in a way. So it taught me, like, the complexity within the simplicity and the high technique kind of in order to deliver the idea that. Yeah, I guess.

[Alison Stewart]

I'm speaking to musician Rasha Nahas. She's performing at Joe's Pub tomorrow night as part of the Habibi Festival, celebrating music from Southwest Asia and North Africa. What is the next song we are going to hear from you?

[Rasha Nahas]

The next song is a very dear song to my heart. It's unreleased, yet. It's called Once Upon a Time in Palestine. And it is about a lime tree that my grandfather planted in our backyard. And my grandfather is not with us anymore, and I would love to dedicate this song to his soul.

[Chorus Singer]

Once a bone in time in Palestine the woods of LA Blue are the skies we rising Watch from paradise and smiling.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Gray as concrete I stand on my feet I think of my mother I think of my lover we think of each other Beneath the cherry trees I long to be free I think of Berlin I'm not ready to leave in the summer I long to be younger.

[Chorus Singer]

Once about a time in palace down there was a boundary Blue are the skies we rising Watch from paradise smiling.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Great as the skies Time flies Sunsets and sunrises See myself in your.

[Chorus Singer]

Eyes Always rains when you cry Stop and stare at the sea the waves caress your desert breeze I can hear your lips screaming Slow motion.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Once upon.

[Chorus Singer]

A time in Palestine There was a loud tree Blue water skies we rise day watch from barren dust and smiling Once a bone in town was a lady.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Rasha Nahas. She'll be appearing tomorrow night as part of the Habibi Festival. It's interesting. One song you performed in Arabic, another you performed in English. How do the languages express themselves differently when you're writing the song?

[Rasha Nahas]

It's funny, the language before, I saw it as a barrier. I saw it, like, as a binary kind of, you know, English, Arabic. But now I see the richness and maybe, like, opportunity to bridge. I feel that my Arabic songs open new territories, and my English songs open other territories, and sometimes they intersect. And I feel again, like, as an immigrant, you know, Arabic is my mother tongue, but English is the language I had all my adult relationships in almost, you know, and so it just. I think the songwriting process, you know, it's very intuitive. And I think that the language is part of it, definitely.

[Alison Stewart]

Your latest album, Amrat, was inspired by your move to Berlin, Germany, of all places. What brought you to Berlin?

[Rasha Nahas]

I moved to Berlin, like, eight years ago. Yeah, I was very, very young. And I feel I. You know, growing up in Haifa, like, there was, I think, a Glass ceiling is not even. It doesn't do it justice. There was a lot more than that. There was like an occupation and something that is just pressing you down and like, you know, your identity is not free to just be and. And of course it reflects, you know, on all aspects of one's life. And I think as a young queer artist woman, I was seeking some more space to not even express myself, but just like to be for a second, you know, so I can even like, you know, decide how I want to express myself. And I think that Berlin somewhat offered that to me then. And I was very attracted to, you know, the Weimar era theater, cabaret, also, like, you know, it was a time between the first World War and the Second World War where a lot of somewhat brilliant art happened. And I was very attracted to that and it did reflect a lot in my first album. Yeah, Berlin is, you know, it's a home now, so it's love and hate. I love Berlin.

[Alison Stewart]

I think it's a great city.

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah. And the last two years I've been kind of between New York and Berlin more.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Rasha Nahas]

Yeah. And that's been a very nice balance.

[Alison Stewart]

Why is New York a good balance to Berlin?

[Rasha Nahas]

I just love New York, honestly. I feel like, I don't know, I don't have like one thing. I think it's just like a city where there's a lot of synergy. Like, I feel like I put an energy out and I get something back that is resonating with my frequency. But also there's an amazing community here. Like, for example, you see Habibi Festival, you know, like creating like Arabic Swana centered music festival in today's political climate and in today's world, you know, I think it's so important to like have this representation and to like, I think, you know, as Arabs, we're fighting like years and years and years of propaganda, misrepresentation, dehumanization in films and in Hollywood and in the media. And I think that like, you know, I think we're just like sick of like proving that we're humans to people and, and proving our humanness. And I think that like, spaces like, you know, Habibi Festival, among other communities and initiatives in the city do create this alternative, this safer space where we just perform excellent art, you know, and art is valued for, you know, it's quality and not like this western gaze.

[Interviewer 2]

You played last night? Is that.

[Alison Stewart]

Yes. Is that the truth?

[Rasha Nahas]

Yes, I played last night. It was beautiful.

[Alison Stewart]

Tell me how it went. I want to hear.

[Rasha Nahas]

Oh, My God. Yeah. I'm equally smashed and grateful today. No, it was wonderful, honestly. It was a full house, beautiful audience. I love Joe's Pub also. It's like this very intimate setup, but very big sound. So it was like, honestly, like, the perfect welcoming into the city.

[Interviewer 2]

How do you find New York audiences?

[Rasha Nahas]

I love it. I mean, yeah. Like, you know, are you recording an.

[Interviewer 2]

Album in New York now, or is that just one off?

[Chorus Singer 2]

Yeah, you are.

[Rasha Nahas]

I am. I am. I am. The rumor is out.

[Interviewer 2]

The rumor is true. How far along are you?

[Rasha Nahas]

And we're going to the studio in a few weeks. The demos are done. The team is locked in. The songs are. Yeah, we're going to the studio, be recording in Brooklyn, and I can't wait, honestly.

[Interviewer 2]

I'm speaking with musician Rasha Nahas. She's performing at Joe's Pub tomorrow night as part of the Habibi Festival celebrating music from Southwest Asia and North Africa. I want to make sure we have enough time to hear one more song. What are we going to hear?

[Rasha Nahas]

This next song is called Skies Don't Care, and it's a song that I wrote at the age of 17. I wrote it on a rooftop in Jerusalem.

[Interviewer 2]

You were set 17?

[Rasha Nahas]

Yes. It's one of my first songs that I ever written. Yeah. I wrote it with a friend of mine, Noor, on a rooftop in Jerusalem. We were, like, looking at the old city and, you know, you see, like, the separation wall. You see the apartheid wall. And there was, like, a very beautiful sunset also, and she just pointed at the sky and said, the skies don't care. And I basically. Yeah, on the way home, I just wrote it. I wrote this text on my phone and this song happened, and I would love to finish with it today and dedicate it to the people back home for their resilience and beauty.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Enemies and holy fools and the skies don't care we're burning down in flames and the skies don't care.

[Rasha Nahas]

We'Re sucked.

[Chorus Singer 2]

In this game and the skies don't.

[Rasha Nahas]

Care.

[Chorus Singer]

Believe in fear we are too we are here we love, we hate.

[Chorus Singer 2]

We kill, we break we occupy we, we destroy and we heal in the.

[Rasha Nahas]

Sky.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Stay the same.

[Rasha Nahas]

We're a soldier.

[Chorus Singer 2]

And a child in the skies don't.

[Rasha Nahas]

Care.

[Chorus Singer 2]

With a blue state of mind and the skies don't care with blood dripping from our flies and the skies don't care we're separated and attacked in the sky don't care.

[Chorus Singer]

I believe and feel we all too we are here.

[Chorus Singer 2]

We love, we hate we kill, we.

[Chorus Singer]

Break we occupy and we we destroy we heal in the skies.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Stay the.

[Rasha Nahas]

Same.

[Chorus Singer]

We'Re believing feel y' all too we are healed we hate, we kill, we break we occupied we we destroy and we heal in the spirit the skies.

[Chorus Singer 2]

Stay the same in the skies stay the same.

[Rasha Nahas]

Foreign.

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