Karim Ziad & Mehdi Nassouli at Habibi Festival 2024 | Quartertones Live at Joe's Pub

Quartertones | Music from the Arab World

Karim Ziad and Mehdi Nassouli perform at Habibi Festival 2024 and are joined on stage by Yacine Boulares and other talented musicians for a jazzy performance and a conversation with host Mikey Muhanna who asks Karim and Mehdi about their inspirations, musical journeys, and the experience of working together.
00:00:00 Intro & Performance
01:13:11 Fusion of West & North African Music
01:15:51 Yacine on Learning from Karim
01:16:41 Karim's Listening Habits As a Teen
01:18:40 Themes & Legacy in Karim's Music
01:20:10 Yacine on Habibi Festival with Karim
01:24:10 Karim Meeting Mehdi As a Child
01:24:29 Audience Reaction As a Gift
Karim Ziad is a renowned Algerian singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who blends North African music—Chaâbi, Gnawa, and Raï—with jazz and electronica. Formerly a hard rock musician in Algiers, he became an acclaimed drummer in Paris, performing with legends like Cheb Mami, Khaled and Idir.
Connect with Karim 👉 https://www.instagram.com/karimziad66/
Mehdi Nassouli is a Moroccan guembri player known for revitalizing Gnawa music and Moroccan traditions. Hailing from Taroudant, he gained acclaim through collaborations with Titi Robin and global icons like Herbie Hancock, blending North African sounds with jazz and world music.
Connect with Mehdi 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mehdi_nassouli/
Yacine Boulares is a French-Tunisian saxophonist and composer who merges African traditions, jazz and soul. A Paris Conservatory graduate and Fulbright scholar, he created innovative projects like AJOYO and Night in Tunisia, and founded NYC’s Habibi Festival spotlighting contemporary Arabic music.
Connect with Yacine 👉 https://www.instagram.com/yacineboulares/
Habibi Festival is back for another year at Joe's Pub, bringing Arabs, comrades, and lovers of music together in New York in these difficult times that our nations continue to endure. And for another year, afikra was on stage to speak to the musicians and bring their conversations and performances to you on afikra's Quartertones podcast.
Created with the goal of giving a snapshot of contemporary and traditional music of the South West Asia North Africa (SWANA) region, every year Habibi Festival takes listeners on a journey of the sounds wafting through the airwaves and living rooms of cities spanning Marrakech to Baghdad. This performing arts festival (now in its fourth year) is a collaboration between the Director of Joe's Pub Alex Knowlton, artist/composer/curator Yacine Boulares, and curator/producer Meera Dugal who are bonded by the goal of creating more joyful spaces for performance, conversation, and storytelling from this part of the world.
Follow Habibi Festival 👉 https://www.instagram.com/habibifestival
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu

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