This Israeli rapper unites people through multilingual lyrics – News Block

There is an expression in Arabic: nus nus – which roughly translates to “more or less” or “half and half.”

It’s also the title of a song by Noam Tsuriely, 28, an Israeli-Jewish hip-hop artist from Jerusalem whose debut album will be released this summer.

There are plenty of songs that mix lyrics in both Hebrew and Arabic, but Tsuriely says they often miss the point. People end up learning only the verses they understand and ignoring the rest.

So Tsuriely is trying something different.

“I wanted to make a song that can’t be ignored on the other side,” he said. “So, I do…one line in Hebrew, one line in Arabic. And it’s not a line in the translation.” He explained that each line is a continuation of the song that can only be fully understood if you understand both languages.

“If you don’t understand both languages, you can’t fully understand what’s happening in your own country.”

“And this is the point of the song,” he added. “If you don’t understand both languages, you can’t fully understand what’s happening in your own country.”

“If we don’t know how to speak, we won’t stop being afraid,” he raps in the song, the video for which was filmed in the Old City of Jerusalem.

But Tsuriely’s “Nus Nus” hasn’t come without its critics. Some people have attacked him online as a “naive lefty.” He said, however, that he doesn’t let it bother him.

“I’m not talking about ‘Is the Israeli side wrong or the Palestinian side wrong?’ This is not my job, to preach to people what to believe,” she said. “My job is to do good in this world. And for me, to say to them, “Me! It doesn’t matter which side of the conflict you’re on. You have to learn to talk to the other side!”

Tsuriely said he realized this during his mandatory military service when he served in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and came face to face with Palestinian civilians. It was then that he realized that talking to each other is the only way for the two parties to learn to live together.

moral messages

Tsuriely’s music addresses other themes as well. One number is called “Greta” and is an ode to climate activist Greta Thunberg. She said that she finds her an inspiration for her own activism. Here are some lyrics from the song:

“She doesn’t take anything lightly, like a Jew in exile.
She is waiting for redemption.
But when anger arises in her, you will not find inaction in her.
Greta is here and you should cooperate.

But most of his music is not political at all.

He sings and raps a lot about love, relationships, and heartbreak. Because, she said, that’s how it is.

Hip-hop has been around for a while in Israel and the Palestinian territories. But in recent years, it has really gone mainstream.

Tsuriely said that what Israeli artists are bringing to their music can be captured by the Yiddish word. tachlis, which means, “real” or “the heart of the matter”.

“It’s about being brutally honest, sometimes too brutal,” he said. “But I think in our world, this is what people want to hear.”

A lifelong dream

Tsuriely said that she wanted to be a rap star since the sixth grade, when she started listening to Eminem and A Tribe Called Quest. He also had a penchant for classic American soul, funk, and R&B.

But one of her biggest musical influences is very close to home: her own father, Yinon Tsuriely, who plays the piano and formed her first jazz band at the age of 16.

As Noam tries to get his career off the ground, Yinon reminds her son that the music business isn’t easy.

“He’s a big boy and he knows it. And he is fighting to live his dream, to make it come true,” Yinon Tsuriely said. “Because I know he’s very talented, I believe in him.”

Israel is a small country, but Israelis take their music very seriously.

Noam Tsuriely said his goal is to one day be listed alongside Israel’s best-selling hip-hop artists Tuna and Ravid Plotnik.

At a recent showcase for unsigned talent in the coastal city of Jaffa, Tsuriely was the headliner, performing on solo piano and voice.

Meanwhile, her upcoming debut album which includes the song “Nus Nus”, will be called, in Hebrew, “Melim, Lachan, veh Chazon”, or “Lyrics, melody and vision”.

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