Noel Kharman (نويل خرمان) – Mouthakerti (مذكرتي) (2023, Palestine/Jordan)
Our next spotlight is on number 500 on The List, submitted by ado.
If you’re cooler than me, you may have already heard of Palestinian singer and songwriter Noel Kharman (نويل خرمان) from her popular mash-up videos (some going back to almost 10 years ago) where she blends a Western song (in English, Spanish, or French) with an Eastern song (in Arabic or Turkish), as her cover of Adele’s “Hello” mixed with Lebanese star Fairouz’s “Keefak Enta” and Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” with Syrian musician Ahmad Al Maslawi’s “Akherran Galaha” have each gotten double-digit millions of views. Or, perhaps you caught wind of her via the music video for her first original track, “Ann Alawan“, sung from the perspective of her mother after they lost Kharman’s father; in the 3 years since the video was released, it has gotten 30 million views. As for me, putting on Kharman’s debut EP in order to write this spotlight was the very first I had ever heard of her. And I’m completely enchanted.
All the songs on Mouthakerti were co-written by Kharman, and are in Arabic. I haven’t been able to find English translations but thankfully each track has a video (either a lyric video or full music video), so it’s easy to pick up that these gorgeous songs are very personal, about life, love, and – as in the above-mentioned “Ann Alawan” – loss (…and, also, possibly falconry?). The tracklist below links to each respective video.
Kharman was born and raised in Haifa, but is now based out of Amman, Jordan. She just dropped a new single and video (with English subtitles) a couple months ago, “HAIFA” (حيفا), about her love and longing for her homeland. I believe it features her own grandmother singing at the end and, well, let’s just say tears have been shed.
Give this one a listen and keep an eye out for Kharman’s next release. She’s definitely one to watch.
#ArabicMusic #ArabicPop #BigSam #music #musicDiscovery #NoelKharman #Palestine #PalestinianMusic #pop
