"I want to take my rightful share of life by force, I want to give lavishly, I want love to flow from my heart, to ripen and bear fruit. There are many horizons that must be visited, fruit that must be plucked, books read, and white pages in the scrolls of life to be inscribed with vivid sentences in a bold hand.”
– Tayeb Salih
Featuring artist: Nafisa Ferdous
Hey there!
Is it really January still? After a much-needed break, our team came back with a lot of new things to announce. To start, we've turned our special podcast episodes on Palestine that we've been recording since October 7 into their own podcast: This is not a watermelon. It became clear to us that these types of conversations cannot stop, and that we need them now more than ever. Make sure to check out our latest in the series: a conversation with Andy Clarno associate professor at at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of Neoliberal Apartheid: Palestine/Israel and South Africa after 1994.
We've also premiered the new season of our Movie Night podcast – now called Kawalis – with a very informative conversation with Mohamed Kordofani, writer and director of Goodbye Julia – the first film from Sudan to ever be presented in the "Un Certain Regard" section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The Tasmeem Doha Podcast is also back with a new season that celebrates 25 years of VCUart Qatar and builds up to this year's conference, themed "Under Construction". Quartertones kicked off the new year with a special series recorded at the Habibi Festival last October (1-7) and featured conversations with incredible artists from the region, including Bab L' Bluz, Tarek Yamani, Yacine Boulares, Omar Offendum, Hadi El Debek, Firas Zreik and Amal Murkus. Stay tuned to see who the next artists will be. And there's a lot more coming up in podcasts over the next few weeks!
Now for our monthly digest... We're super excited to start our mixtape takeovers. This month, music writer and curator Danny Hajjar has compiled a five and a half hour long mixtape that celebrates the voices of some of the best up-and-coming (but also some old favorite) musicians from the Arab world. Make sure to play it at your next party. There are a lot of cool resources and events to click on and a super fun chat with one of the friendly nerds in afikra's community.
Wishing you all a positive year ahead.
Always in solidarity, The afikra | عفكرة Team
Click on the tape to listen to a music compilation from the Arab world by
This annual film festival hosted by Cinema Akil is back for a 9th edition and brings independent and alternative cinema that tells Palestinian stories.
The Parisian duo Acid Arab creates space for Arab culture in the world of contemporary electronic music. They're performing at the Electric Brixton and 15% of proceeds will be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Laylit is a platform and collective that celebrates music and artists from the Arab/SWANA region and diaspora. Its unique sound blends dabke, shaabi and mahraganat music, Arabic pop and hip-hop with other contemporary sounds. The performance will be at Club SAW.
A biweekly gathering in NYC to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine and offers the attendees the chance to hear diverse voices, share experiences and collectively build strategies for justice and equity in Palestine.
A day school for activists organized by the Socialist Worker's Party. It's a full day event featuring talks by Palestinian author Ghada Karmi, author and editor of MENA solidarity Anne Alexander, Lebanese writer Simon Assaf and more.
"Mosaic" فسيفساء is a concert that brings together the rich tapestry of Arabic culture through a variety of sounds and rhythms: a "sanctuary for expression, an opportunity to rejoice, grieve, and reminisce the incredible history of this music."
Sudan Memory is a rich digital collection that traces the heritage, culture and memories of Sudan drawing from both public and private collections that span the centuries.
Friendly Nerd... Tarik Zahr
A book you're reading Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir. I can think of a few all time favorites like Woman at Point Zero by Nawal Al Saadawi and The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona El Tahawy (The seven sins are anger, attention, profanity, ambition, power, violence, and lust). Adania Shibli and Susan Abulhawa are both amazing Palestinian writers. I recommend reading Minor Detail and Mornings in Jenin.
Favorite musician of all time
Yasmine Hamdan! Fun fact, we're both from the same place in Lebanon (a few towns away). She was popular in the 2010s and before that was in the band Soapkills. She's super cool and her music is so unique. I would describe her as the Arab Lana Del Rey (although she's been doing this for longer... just saying).
Favorite childhood meal
Kishik – both the soup and the spread on Mana'eesh. I am the biggest fan I could eat it every day. My late grandparents lived in a small brick home in their hometown of Batloun in the Chouf mountains, and I would spend my summers there. Every morning, our neighbor Tante Ahlam would make Khebez Saj and my Teta Nouhad (Fairuz's birth name!) would make her own Kishik spread and send to Ahlam to use. We'd eat that with Nescafe 3in1 or Mate b'haleeb (if you know, you know). Bemyieh would be a close second (haters can hate all they want, it's an amazing dish).
Favorite Arabic song of all time
Ouda by Libyan-Egyptian heartthrob Hamid El Shaeri. But right now I'm all about the divas so if I had to pick it would either be anything by Sherine or Elissa. For the sake of picking one song I'll say Aayshalak عيشالك by Elissa (her eyebrows from this album alone are so stunning they could solve world peace).
Who would you like to shadow for a day, present or past
I'm such a history geek and I've always been interested in minority cultures within the Arab world, so Seta Hagopian. She's an Iraqi-Armenian singer dubbed the Fairuz of Iraq but no longer lives there. I'd shadow her in the 70s when she rose to fame to get a sense of Armenian life, culture, and isms within Iraq. Armenians were and have been influential in the Levant so I wonder how the community was like in Iraq.
Favorite episode of afikra
I've genuinely enjoyed every episode but if I had to pick I'd go for the one with Mariam Said, wife of the late Edward Said, or Linda Jacobs who writes about the first waves of Syrian immigration to NYC and their old neighborhoods. Her books are great and super cool to me as a New Yorker.
A Recipe We Love
رشتاية عدس و رقاق
Rashtayat Adas w Irkak
A hearty Palestinian winter soup with lentils, onions and homemade noodles, spiced to liking with cumin, seven or allspice, and sumac. You can substitute the noodles with any dried pasta of choice.
1) Mix the flour, warm water and salt, and knead into a dough. Set aside to rest while you cook the lentils.
2) Boil one cup of lentils with 1/2 a teaspoon of cumin and 1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper. Once cooked, drain and sauté the lentils with diced onion and olive oil. Once the onion is cooked, add hot water and bring to a boil.
3) Roll out your dough and cut into thin strips. Flour each strip to avoid clumping. Drop your noodles into your soup and stir.
4) Serve with toppings of your liking such as pomegranate or crispy onion.
My lover asks me: "What is the difference between me and the sky?" The difference, my love, Is that when you laugh, I forget about the sky.
Loose translation/interpretation by Michael R Burch
Words from Daftar
Write for us! If you have a story to share or a topic you want to delve into, we want to know about it. Email us at blog@afikra.com to bring your curiosity (or expertise) to life.
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