Rapping in both French and Arabic, Carmeline's sound embraces the Parisian suburbs and her Palestinian roots
Words by Nour Khairi, Interview by Dalia Al-Dujaili
”I have no choice but to reconnect because my name always reminds me of that part of my family history."
Third culture kid (TCK) is a term coined in the ‘50s to describe those who lived in a country or culture that differs from that of their parents, as well as spent a significant time in their life in yet another country. TCK’s can be spotted by the varieties in their identities, and ability to exist fluidly in vastly different cultural atmospheres. This is what first strikes us about Carmeline. Born in Vienna, the trilingual artist rapping in both French and Arabic, her music captures the air of Parisian suburbs, while bring it all back to her Palestinian roots. Carmeline takes lyricism to another level – “I do not defend myself, I define myself, ana ali-en min Falestini (I’m an alien from Palestine)” from 23H59, a satirical play on words flipping the legal label ‘alien’ on its head. It’s true that you can take the poet out of Palestine, but you can’t take Palestine out of the poet. 23H59 was accompanied by a short clip following Mohammed and Rali, two young Parisian boys from the suburbs cruising around talking about music and discussing their discovery of her song. After her single ‘Ali-en’ featured on Nike’s Play New campaign, the independent artist continued to deliver, her latest single ‘Zahir’, a gritty futuristic track, in collaboration with Leone.
You had a huge project with Nike recently, could you talk us through it?
A friend of mine which I met three years ago, she’s a photographer and director. She went to this public school to do film direction, that’s where she met a lot of the girls from Kourtrajmeuf, and they basically created this group for film directing. They were working on a new Nike ad, and they wanted to include female artists, so she hit me up. I sent her some music, she suggested it to Nike, and they loved it! That was a really big deal for me, because, you know, I’m independent, I don't have a record label. It was really cool that it was all female directors because film direction is more of a male environment. And it's difficult as a woman to make your way. It was really cool to see a bunch of girls from Morocco, France, all over the world, and this brand just hands them such a big commercial.
Exciting. So, tell us a bit about your background and how you got into music.
I was born in Vienna, Austria. My mom is French, my dad is Palestinians. He came to Austria when he was he was a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. We grew up in Austria. And I started doing music young. I started with the piano. In my household, we used to listen to French, Arabic music and Austrian classical music. When I was 14 years old, I participated in an Austrian TV show, for kids.
Oh wow!
Yeah [laughs]. And then at 17 years old, I moved to New York. I got a scholarship from New York Film Academy to do musical theatre. It was a great experience but it showed me what the show business is like, and I realized that musical theatre was not for me. I switched completely, and I actually studied law… Such a change, I know. I specialized in music business and music law and for a while I worked in the music industry. I did music supervision for movies and commercials. Then at some point, I just wanted to do my own thing, and started releasing my own music.
What a varied background, it's fascinating. So, you write in French and in Arabic because of your background. What does this mean for you as an artist?
My dad always tried to pass on the culture, from food to music. He used to bring me all CDs of Arabic singers; Fairouz, Umm Kulthum, etc. I was also named after Mount Carmel in Haifa. So that's where my family is from. The Arabic language is really important to me, and honestly just sounds dope. I produce as well so I try to include Arabic instruments, rhythms, sounds. Mix a bit of French lyrics with an Arabic instrument, maybe add some German in there. Yeah. I just like combining everything together.
When I was younger, I didn’t really feel that connection to Palestine. But my father and grandparents used to talk about it all the time –the land, the olive trees, how beautiful it was, but also this big heartache that was passed down from generation to generation. The fact that I was named after this mountain where my great great grandparents used to live – I have no choice but to reconnect because my name always reminds me of that part of my family history. My great uncle Fawaz Turki is a writer and poet who wrote many books about the Palestinian cause that were studied in universities, so the first thing I did was just order all his books and read all his poetry, and it was such an intimate experience. I also made a family tree which is so important when there’s war and people are seeking refuge in so many countries – family in Canada, Jordan, all over the world. I want to learn more every day and be active, because Palestinians are not reduced to just a war and struggle. They're also artists, designers, and more. I mean, there's so much more to it.
Absolutely, and we’re seeing emerging creatives like yourself representing that. Could you tell us more about your singles and what you’re working on right now?
I have a few tracks lined up and the most important part right now is getting the visuals. Because I have such a precise vision it can be hard translating it to reality. So, we’re focusing on the plan of the music video for my upcoming single. We also have a couple of photoshoots coming up so just really getting the visuals down. As for the tracks, I want to release them single by single rather than a full EP.
I wrote these songs after the protests against police brutality in Paris – I felt a lot of frustration and tension on those days. I wanted to incorporate this in my beats and lyrics. You can see it in the first song I wrote Ali-en where it’s very high pitched and almost siren-like at times. The songs reflect the feeling of not belonging in a country, drawn from my experiences growing up in Austria – people making racist comments about my hair when I was on the TV show as a child, and just growing up in a country that is so beautiful, yet where racism is so deeply rooted.
We really can’t wait to hear more from you. It sounds like you’ve been working hard, do you like being independent?
I really love being independent. As I grow older, really know what I want. What has really changed in the music industry is that artists can do music on their own – they don’t need the big record labels to finance a studio and so on. I write my own songs I produce as well. And being independent is having the freedom to work with the people you really want to work with. That’s what I like. Of course, the hard part is the financial aspect, that’s where contacts and collabs come in; people who want to help you or believe in your project. So, there’s pros and cons. Who knows? Maybe when my vision gets bigger, I’ll sign with a label in the future, we’ll see.