Jarak Qaribak crosses cultures, genres and borders

Mizrahi Jewish musician David 'Dudu' Tassa has teamed up with Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist in internationally renowned British rock outfit Radiohead. The pair became firm friends when Tassa's band opened for Radiohead on their 2017 US tour and now they've produced Jarak Qaribak (Arabic for Your Friend is Your Neighbour), a collection of "cross-border collaborations". The album, which mostly comprises Arabic love songs, features guest singers from across the Middle East, including Rashid Al-Najjar (Lebanon), who appears on the first single 'Ashufak Shay'; Safae Essafi (Dubai), who appears on the second, 'Ahibak'; Nour Freteikh (Palestine); Mohssine Salaheddine (Morocco); and Noamane Chaari (Tunisia).

The nine-track offering, which was released earlier this month, invites each singer to tackle a song from a different country to their own, which not only reflects the title of the album, but also promotes positive relations between Israel and its neighbouring nations. “Israel is a small country between all those countries," says Tassa, "so we’re very influenced by those cultures and that music. And a lot of us in Israel – like my family – are descended from people who came [to Israel] from elsewhere in the Middle East."

Tassa's grandfather Daoud Al-Kuwaity immigrated to Israel from Kuwait (via Iraq) in 1951, travelling with his brother Saleh. Although both were accomplished musicians, responsible for helping shape modern music in 20th-century Kuwait and Iraq, the pair were penalised in Iraq for being Jewish and then shunned in Israel for being Arabic. Their popularity dwindled once in Israel, but their music has been kept alive thanks to Tassa, who formed his band, Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis, in 2011 to play the music of his grandfather and great-uncle, which he sings in both Hebrew and Arabic.

The majority of Jarak Qaribak was recorded between Tassa's hometown, Tel Aviv, and Greenwood's, Oxford, while the guest singers recorded remotely from their respective countries. The result is a fusion of cultures and genres, combining Middle Eastern sounds on the oud, qanun (boxed zither) and long-necked rebab (a fiddle-like instrument) with typically Western guitars, drum machines and brass elements. "It's a letter in a bottle, thrown into the ocean," explains Tassa. "Who will get it, who will hear it? I don’t know. But someone will love it.”

By Danielle Goldstein

Jarak Qaribak by Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood is out now. Catch the duo on tour this autumn in Israel, Europe and the UK. Visit jarakqaribak.com for dates and to find out more.