PALESTINIAN singer songwriter Rasha Nahas is performing at St Mary’s Church as part of the inaugural Totnes Festival at 7pm tomorrow (Friday August 19). Audiences can expect a mix of intimate acoustic ballads, electric rock shockers and romantic Arabic melodies. Paul Harper of the Totnes Friends of Palestine chatted to Rasha about her style, influences and identity.

We should probably expect just about anything that is creative and provocative from Rasha – such a wide range is fitting for a Palestinian who grew up in Israel before moving to Berlin, Paul writes. I asked her if I could also detect echoes of great Arab divas such as Fairuz?

“I grew up in a home where my dad listened to a lot of John Lennon, so there was like a lot of controversial rock and roll over there, and I think definitely Pink Floyd, and I think Joni Mitchell is definitely an influence, and Leonard Cohen of course,” said Rasha.

“Around the time I moved to Germany I was listening a lot to cabaret of the 1930s, I was getting a lot into Brecht, a lot into Kurt Weill – I loved the way the music was so representative of the social and political weather back then.

“Arabic music was always there, in the background. It was everywhere, in the streets, at family gatherings, in my mum’s car. I think my dad was more John Lennon, my mum is more Fairuz.”

More important even than the music are the words: poetry and storytelling are the heart of Rasha’s art. Her musical education included classical guitar, but it was what she wanted to say that made her take up singing.

“You know, sometimes we observe, we take in so many things from the world we live in, and how do you put it out? I met someone recently who said something very beautiful, he said the melody is for the soul, the lyrics are for the mind and the rhythm is for the body, and that stuck with me very much. For me, when these three elements come together, that’s it, it’s this thing that’s beyond explainable.”

Rasha’s themes can be summarised as love, freedom and identity. Freedom is something she has found in Berlin -- does she also feel like an exile there?

“Berlin has a very precious energy, I love it so much, there is freedom in a way… and also the arts scene and the diversity of everything, the disciplines, of the nationalities, genders, it’s a very colourful city… But when I moved, it was also moving away… I feel exile is a harsh word, I feel too privileged to say it because I chose to leave, I had a choice. I have friends here who were first out of their countries, who made it here by water, smuggled, trains and stuff… But I feel there is definitely a kind of emotional exile, on a level of identity and mind, absolutely.”

The issue of identity is a thorny one for Palestinian citizens of Israel, but for Rasha her art divides according to whether it’s expressed in her native Arabic or in English.

“I released an English album last year, and I’ve just finish working on an Arabic album which is going to be released later, in the next months, and I feel it’s definitely a topic I’m dealing with all the time because I started to write a song two days ago and I’m like, I’m not sure if it’s coming out in English or Arabic.

“I mean, I’m Arab, my tongue, my mouth, my body is most relaxed when I’m singing Arabic. But I also live here [Berlin], I have communicated in English for the last five years of my life, like 90 per cent of the time maybe, so it is a language I experienced most of my adult life, that I know myself in, my emotions, my limits.”

So what can Totnes look forward to?

“I feel I’m getting to know myself and the different sides of me and growing into these polarities or different seasons that exist within me, and I feel that it’s a very rich process for me on a personal level… For me it’s always interesting to sing Arabic material as well for non-Arabic speaking audiences because my music is so narrative-focused and narrative-driven and because for me the song writing is such an integral part of the piece. So it’s always curious for me how it interacts with different audiences and I am really, really, really looking forward to the show!”