São Paulo – Born in Brazil’s southern city of Porto Alegre, but with part of her family Brazilian and part Palestinian, rapper and singer-songwriter Majda Asad, known artistically as Maj, released the final three tracks of a musical work earlier this month that reflects her multifaceted identity between the two countries.
Titled NUSS NUSS نص نص, the project consists of seven songs, with the final tracks becoming available on music apps on September 9. According to the released material, the album intertwines the singer’s Brazilian and Palestinian roots, celebrating resistance and life, her heritage, her identity, and her reflections on the world.
The project’s name refers to the term used by Palestinians to describe the artist when she visited the country. “In Arabic, it means half and half, referring to the fact that I’m both Palestinian and Brazilian. It also represents the project itself, which is part samba, part rap, part rock, part poetry,” the singer explains.
The first song released in August 2023, titled “A Cabra” (The Goat), includes lyrics that translate to “I am the hunger of the West with the thirst of the East, but I’m neither from here nor from there. I am both this emptiness and this wholeness.” The project was born in 2020, when the artist returned from Palestine. “’A Cabra’ came as my introduction to the world. Showing who I am, my pain, strength, and faith,” she was quoted as saying in the released material.
The NUSS NUSS نص نص project features Thomas Harres on drums, Donatinho on keys, and musicians from the Brazilian Jamaican Music Orchestra on brass, among others. In addition to “A Cabra,” the work includes singles like “Avisa Allah,” meaning “Tell God,” featuring Syrian Palestinian singer Oula Sagheer and Palestinian musician Yousef Saif; “Moça, larga a louça,” a rap samba in collaboration with rap MC Gabi Niaray; and “Insônia,” which addresses the pains of invented romantic love.
New tracks from the rapper’s album
The three new tracks from the album NUSS NUSS نص نص are “Equilíbrio Estranho” (Strange Balance), about real love; “Monsters,” which addresses motherhood in the context of the modern post-colonial world; and “Ainda Pulsa” (It Still Pulses), a call to life and resistance, even after the pandemic or the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Read more:
Brazilian singer debuts music video filmed in Cairo
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
