“In Israel, they look at me as a Palestinian,” says Tamer Nafar. “And in the Arab world, they look at me as an Israeli.”
Less dual identity than personal and career dilemma, that is the situation faced by the Palestinian rapper and his group, DAM, which also includes his brother Suhell Nafar and Mahmoud Jreri. Fittingly, DAM stands for both “eternity” in Arabic and “blood” in Hebrew… or just Da Arabian MCs in hip-hop parlance.
“I’m a Palestinian living in Israel,” he says. “When you land, you have Ben Gurion Airport. That’s three minutes from my house. When it was part of Palestine, we used to call it Lydda.”
Nafar was at home recovering from a throat virus, but still enjoying a hookah and drink while his bandmates were on tour in Tokyo. This Palestinian rap group, who toured the United Kingdom last month, have a very impressive international profile.
Formed in 1999, with two albums – Ihda' (2006) and Dabke on the Moon (2012), DAM tour 50 countries a year and have since 2003. They've toured the UK dozens of times and all five Japanese shows were sold out.
“It’s beyond politics,” he exclaims. “It’s charisma. We are entertainers, after all.”
But it’s not entirely beyond politics – nor could it be.
Nafar has an Israeli passport “but we consider ourselves Palestinians – not as a clichéd political statement, but as a righteous statement”. As a rapper, he was initially inspired by the American legend Tupac Shakur (who was murdered in 1996). “I was listening to hip-hop before; remember that song by Snap!, I Got the Power? But Tupac – something about the charisma and the energy. I didn’t understand a word of it at first. He was the one who made me write out lyrics and search out meanings in the dictionary.”
He and DAM first rapped in English, then in Hebrew “because of the flow of the words”.
“Back then, I wanted to do it in Arabic, but there was nobody to inspire me. It’s about the flow, the rhymes, the syllables. So Arabic took time to develop. But I would say that music, even if it’s not in English, is an international language.”
That brings us to the international audience.
The UK tour hit Sheffield, Manchester and London and was a roaring success. Le Monde has hailed them as "spokesmen of a new generation". But when they tour London, or Tokyo, or Paris or Madrid, who is in the crowd?
“You have Arabs, you have pro-Palestinian activists and you have hip-hop fans,” Nafar says.
Does the audience know what’s going on?
“First of all, we have animation and artwork behind us. Second, there is the beat. Third, we speak a lot between songs. We explain things, they laugh. And to restate that the crowd, the hip-hop audience, is united beyond politics.”
But back home, politics is ever-present.
Their 2002 breakthrough single, Meen Erhabi? (Who Is the Terrorist?), addressed Israelis throwing stones at a Yafa mosque in response to a suicide bombing. Nafar was also the co-subject of the 2003 documentary Channels of Rage. Shot by the Israeli filmmaker Anat Halachmi, the film followed Nafar and a right-wing Zionist rapper, Kohi Shimoni, as they sparred on- and offstage for three years. Nafar self-identifies as politicised and progressive. "When I speak about the occupation, the Israelis find me radical. And when I speak about women's rights and gay rights, Arabs find me radical as well." He is an atheist, but one "who's saving money to send my mum to Mecca on the Haj".
“I started rapping because I wanted to make a change,” he says. “Then I realised it was just me going through changes. Now it’s more like reflecting the reality around us.”
And the mood of late has not been good. “When we started in Hebrew, the audience was mostly Jews. But with every war and every attack… Jews cannot accept me mostly anymore. And I have a lot of Arabic friends who say: ‘I’m not political, I just wanna do love songs’ and they’re not being accepted either.”
Unsurprisingly, he reports that in the wake of this past summer’s Gaza operation, which left more than 2,100 dead, there is a big gap between the Palestinians in Israel and the Israelis. “Even if you go on YouTube now, and there’s an Arabic song – nothing political – the comments will all be ugly.
“ This country is not my country and it’s so racist. I’m not being played on the radio, I don’t have a local label and I’m not invited to festivals.
“I have many fans in Lebanon, but I can’t go there,” he says. “I can’t go to Arab countries.” No Gaza, no West Bank – “although things are lighter in the West Bank. It’s illegal for me to go there, but there are ways”.
Is this the low point in relations? “It would be scary to imagine there could be a lower one,” Nafar says.
“Rhymes will not solve it. We just document it,” he says, with less resignation than the statement implies. “But I think the first step is for the Israelis to admit that they took the land from the natives. Second step is to apologise for all the massacres. After that, when they speak to us, not from above us, I think it would be easier to find a solution together.”
artslife@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
FORSPOKEN
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Company%20of%20Heroes%203
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Final%20Fantasy%20XVI
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Diablo%20IV
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The%20Legend%20of%20Zelda%3A%20Tears%20of%20The%20Kingdom
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Marvel's%20Spider-Man%202
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Assassin's%20Creed%20Mirage
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Starfield
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
The%C2%A0specs%20
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Company%20profile
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Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
'The Predator'
Dir: Shane Black
Starring: Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key
Two and a half stars
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Recipe
Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo
Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
▶ Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.
▶ Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.
▶ Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.
▶ Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5