Palestinian-Electro
Etyen & Salwa Jaradat on Crafting Radical Sound in the Language of Palestinian Resistance
By Yara Said
Qoumi, which translates to “arise”, is the sophomore EP released by Lebanese wizard of electronica Etyen and the powerfully voiced Palestinian singer and musicologist Salwa Jaradat. With each digging deep into their sonic identities, the result is resistance music in a pentameter that is totally their own – as in “Arabic-industrial” that blends contemporary and ethnic sounds mindfully. Stepping into the DJ booth – and now the interview chair – is Yara Said, aka Noise Diva, known for her tasteful mixing of both tarab and techno, making this interview a meeting of electro minds. They discuss bringing the Palestinian spirit into club music, the power of silence, and the chemistry behind their collaboration.
Photos by Joya Simon
YARA SAID:
I’m excited to speak with you! I’ve been listening to your new EP Qoumi since the morning, but honestly it’s an easy subject for me because I’m a big fan actually, I always listen to what you both make.
ETYEN & SALWA JARADAT: Thank you!
YARA: I also try to explore how to bring culture into the club, not just heavy beats and ‘tss ‘ta7 ‘tss ‘ta7 hahaha… I always play your first track, Galah Waji, in my sets as an opening. I played it recently in Mexico عفكرة, and the people were overwhelmed! I’ve done that in more than one party actually, because I love opening my sets with drama, and this track is really dramatic for me!
ETYEN: Hahahaha it is very dramatic!
YARA: First of all, I’m interested in the collaborations between you, I’d like to know from each of your perspectives what it’s like. Salwa, from your perspective singing folklore music—how is the relationship with transforming this into a digital medium, and how are you dealing with the beats that Samer makes? Are you able to find a space for your music between electronic beats, because this isn’t easy in singing? And Samer, how are you experiencing this, because there’s a lot of back and forth, and giving space in the process, right? Let’s start with collaboration, because this is your second EP now, there has to be a lot of musical chemistry?
ETYEN: Okay, so for me, when we started our first collaboration, it was a bit like we were being forced to do it. Not that we were forced…
SALWA: That’s the truth!
ETYEN: …but we were participating in One Beat in Lebanon. One of the exercises was to pair the artists up randomly to collaborate, to try and come up with something, and we created Galah Waji. But at the time– Salwa will tell you– she couldn’t stand it.
YARA: Hahaha, really?
SALWA: I’ll tell you now. Leave me to speak about my feelings ya Etyen!
QOUMI Artwork by Amy Chiniara
YARA: I realized this when I was hearing the new EP, that there is a respect for the situation, of waiting for the climax of the track, إنو you are forced to listen and understand, and then you go into the drop that gives you that club feeling. I have a question to discuss as well, on the concept of السكتة in Arabic music— the silence that comes as part of composing for Arabic music. I really appreciate it because I don’t feel like it’s present in electronic music unless it’s in dub or slowed-down jungle. It’s what I love about the music that you’re making with Salwa, that these elements are present in your music and are felt, and at the same time إنو it’s a club banger.
ETYEN: Yeah, you mean in the silences?
YARA: In the sense of tarab* يعني, where tarab demands an engagement from the listener as well. It’s not just the performer that gives everything. I feel that in Western club culture, especially pop culture, there’s a lot of performing, the performer does everything عرفت شو, and the audience comes– at least in my point of view– they come to yayyyy and they go home, you know? But in our culture, there’s a lot of back and forth between the listener and the performer: the state between them is much more intimate. But also, the thing you’re doing– with ease, in my opinion as a dj or selector– is this acceptance the Western audience has for your music. Salwa, احكيلي what’s your perspective?
SALWA: If I want to start at the beginning, how Etyen started about how we met, it’s true we were at One Beat, and to be honest, my feelings toward electronic music was like 90 percent complete refusal. I always felt that electronic music uses our voice more than respects it, like it deals with voice as an instrument, as if you can change it, or assemble an effect on it. This always irritated me, especially in the electro Arabic music scene. I come from a very classical background and tradition. I studied Arabic musicology at Antonine University in Kaslik, so this also led me in the direction of how to make the listener aware that I want to say something, it’s a must.
When Etyen says in the beginning that there wasn’t acceptance and truly we were obliged to work together—I remember Etyen was a lot more open to the idea than I was— I wasn’t imagining we’d ever make an album together. I was like ok, this is a residency, we’ll finish the assignment and that’s it. In the beginning, we got into a deep discussion: Etyen made the effort to understand what I’m saying, that the voice was not just a machine, and we sat and debated and advised each other a lot so that we could find a common thread. Then I began feeling like I liked the idea. I didn’t need to think that way about all electronic music anymore, I liked that it could assist in what I was feeling, and that’s how it happened. It was the first time I was experiencing that electronic music world, where I wasn’t on stage with a band of 5 to 6 musicians, it was like an ocean of new details.
I thought it would end when the residency did, but then people really liked what we did, and they asked us to give a concert. Here I was like ok, there are things at work in building this project and it’s growing, and then we got to a point of an album. I still consider myself an explorer in this world, and I’m really happy that Etyen is open to discussing things.
We really argue a lot by the way, this is what lets the work get to a place where it really resembles our personalities. When we’re creating music, one of us will start off with complete refusal, ‘no I want it like this because of this and that reason,’ and someone retreats in their stubbornness, until we get to a point where it’s so beautiful how we understand each other. I feel like my discovery of this world adds to not just how I want to find new roads with my music, but also how I would like to volunteer sounds to my music without harming it nor disfiguring it, to not just sing a maqam made for Western acceptance, but to bringing the sounds that people love from that world into mine. So, that’s what I’ve learned so far.
YARA: But أنا I wouldn’t have thought you have different personalities through your music honestly, because it’s such a solid production!
ETYEN: We also have characteristics that are so similar to each other—Scorpios that are very much opinionated. We’re identical in this way, it’s our musical personalities that aren’t.
YARA: Yeah but I meant your musical personalities, I wouldn’t have imagined this tension. What’s the thing you argue over the most?
ETYEN: Hahahaha لأ Salwa always wants to raise her voice in the mix.
SALWA: Do you see the sounds that he keeps knocking about while I sing?! I tell him knock all you want but don’t come close to me.
ETYEN: My approach in electronic music, and music generally, is that I always want to do something that excites me, that lets me feel that I’m doing something new. I don’t like to imitate anyone or repeat myself, I like to continue exploring– because this is what I’m doing for myself, not because I’m trying to get something out of it. Whenever I make music, I’m always trying to push the boundary as much as possible– or not trying, it comes naturally– whatever I feel I can create is what I make. And my approach is never ‘let’s be chill about this’, I like to get into it هيك khash-khash to see what comes out crazy, and then tone it back. So there’s always this struggle between I want to sonically rip the sound, and then there’s Salwa like ‘له that’s my voice, how can you do that to me!’
SALWA: I also feel that the common thing between us is in our personalities. Yes, musically we’re at different poles, like I said coming from a classical background, I stand to sing and people want to listen to tarab and say الله , and I don’t want to let go of that ascension either. How do I find that excitement and the movement explained through Etyen’s music, and in the calmness that I have via the Eastern music school?
YARA: When I heard Galah Waji, there was definitely a state of الله , allahu akbar too, because first of all, your voice is beautiful Salwa. Also, there’s a state of spirituality, which is big in Arabic music, and which I couldn’t find when I came to Europe. I’ve been living in Amsterdam for ten years, and when I started djing, I was looking for music that carried that stamp, that has listening integrity, that you’re really listening to what the person is trying to tell you.
ETYEN: أكيد …if I can just say something, what we’re talking about in terms of communication and struggle, this is what produces something that has a lifetime.
SALWA: And identity. Right.
ETYEN: If I was someone European, I’d come and tell Salwa: come here, you have a nice voice, I’ll play um’tis’um’tis and you mawwleh and sing– where’s the depth, where’s the thought process behind it? In Qoumi, there’s a lot more dynamic that comes out, the music and voice are worked to complement and talk to each other, it is more mature in that way.
SALWA: Being tied to this music since my childhood, far from how much I know and sing this music that I’ve studied, there’s also an emotional connection. For example Galah Waji is a song I used to hear everywhere as a kid, so it’s related to identity, to my grandmother, to a lot of stories and idols in my life, to so many things in our heritage. I feel that our work’s common thread is the role of music, as musicians we have this emotional exchange, through and with our instruments. For Qoumi we discussed this so much, how they used to tell stories of Salah ed-Din and leaders and fighters, and this transferred into our new tracks, it was our outlet for all of this.
YARA: This is exactly what I turn to, whether in English or Arabic music, the emotional side is very clear. It could be a matter of personal taste, but because I’m also from As Suwayda, I also feel this music in my DNA.
SALWA: Wow, عفكرة the guys with me now are also from As Suwayda, in the concert here in Slovenia. We sang Suwaydi yesterday, Suwaydi and Palestinian.
YARA: Yeah we have so much heritage in common, Suwaydi and Palestinian! They intersect in a scary close way. When I heard the music that you’re using with Samer, what you’re making together, I felt as someone who has the two backgrounds, it was easy for me to comprehend. That’s what I heard in Qoumi, this state of calm and of taking one’s time. I realized as well there’s a little sampling happening on the track Hayyid An El Jeishi?
ETYEN: On Hayyid we wanted to leave in Badriyya Younes’ voice, the original recorded singer of the song. Salwa, why don’t you tell the story?
SALWA: Yeah, this song is recorded in Badriyya Younes’ voice and then a lot of people sang it, so to respect this foundation, we left her voice as it originally is. This song tells the story of Hasna who’s in love with Ghbeishi, and he fights with the resistance. While she’s on the way to deliver food to him, she discovers a big battalion of British soldiers have arrived, and in order to get her messages to the resistance fighters she disguises them through the song’s lyrics to her lover. It’s a Palestinian song that is so personal. It has a lot of tradition and we hear it a lot, but the first time I heard it in this old woman’s voice, it held an even older identity– the identity of the 1936 Arab Revolt, the legend of Hasna and Ghbeishi and how she hid the information of how many soldiers coming and what they were carrying and the number of tanks coming for them, but also how the spiritual side of the singer’s tone emotes between what the old woman was saying and what we’re doing today.
YARA: That’s what I really like about the music you’re making. In experimental and contemporary music sometimes I feel that there’s a lot of violence, and this doesn’t leave space for other kinds of resistance, such as soft resistance we can call it, a resistance that is far from violence, or a resistance that is integrated into it. That’s what I love when I hear the music you make together, that there’s this sweetness, it has to be there to remind us that identity is carried through other things, through music, through language, how we transact with each other as people living on this earth, coming from the same area.
SALWA: Yes, absolutely, and we’re still living this resistance in our lives and we can’t forget our role in this struggle we live daily. We’re also used to seeing the resistance in these big pillars, it’s like the words that spring a call to keep living: Hasna keeps on carrying food to her lover, because at the end of the day, she loves him!
YARA: Is this what inspired the title of your new EP, Qoumi? Qoumi is in the feminine, right?
ETYEN: That’s right. If you want the wordplay from Meddi Dayyatik it says قومي تنحطب يا مريم (arise let us cut the timber, Mariam), it is like a call, at least that’s how I see it. I imagine people can interpret in their own way the meanings behind it, as long as you know the core concept, the inspiration of the music and where the lyrics come from.
YARA: Yes! And who came up with the name?
ETYEN: Together! 50/50.
YARA: Nice, hahahaha!
SALWA: The name was a bit of a debate, it’s true it came out together, but the funny part is that we argued over whether to write it with a Q or a K.
YARA: I’m happy, I have a few gigs coming up and definitely going to play Qoumi and tag you…
SALWA: Thank you!
ETYEN: I wanted to add you to our label promo list, we’re playing on the 30th in Berlin, so inshallah we can set up something together.
YARA: Yes خلص now, we’ll connect, and someday we’ll play together, at the same party, it has to happen. I really enjoyed conversing with you, and love the music, and inshallah someday we work together too, congrats on the release!
Etyen & Salwa Jaradat live at Rumman Festival in Tripoli Lebanon, 2025
—-
*Tarab refers to traditional forms of Arabic music which are capable of inducing an emotional effect. Tarab has often been referred to, by ethnomusicologists, as synonymous with ecstasy and transcendental hypnosis.
Etyen is a Beirut-based musician, composer and music producer described as being “at the forefront of the Lebanese electronic music scene”. Known for his innovative approach to electronic and contemporary music. A Red Bull Music Academy alumnus, he has performed internationally at festivals such as Sonar Barcelona, Mutek, and RBMA Montreal. His solo and collaborative works blend organic, acoustic and the Electronic expertly, creating a unique and dynamic soundscape. Since his debut a decade ago, the artist has released an extensive body of critically and commercially acclaimed works, highlighting his unique and evolving sound over the years, while being a key element and pioneering musician in the contemporary Lebanese music scene, producing and contributing to some of the most interesting acts in the region, while fostering community and creativity via his labels Thawra Records and Tiny House Music.
Salwa Jaradat is a Palestinian traditional Arabic singer who migrated to Lebanon nearly a decade ago, becoming an integral part of the local traditional music culture. She has performed with various traditional ensembles and alongside renowned Arab artists, bringing her rich vocal heritage to diverse audiences. Since 2021, Jaradat has expanded on her creative approach and artistery by discovering uncharted sonic territories and collaborating live and in the studio, with the likes of Zeid Hamdan, Bachar Mar-Khalife, and Etyen, in the pursuit of finding her own voice in songwriting, with the artist set to release her first original music album in the Spring of 2025.
Yara Said aka Noise Diva is an Amsterdam-based producer and DJ, Garage Noord resident, and co-founder at KLAB. Her musical stylings bridge together a variety of genres, from Moroccan trap to Egyptian R&B, French drill, dancehall, and UK garage. She is also a multidisciplinary artist whose work including video, sound, painting, performance, installations, writing, DJing, and music production raises questions about the social and political aspects of our world.
Hala (Halo) Srouji
Hala (Halo) Srouji is a writer and production manager with a background in editing, journalism, and sustainability. With over two decades of experience in communications and media across the Middle East and the U.S., she curates cross-disciplinary editorial projects that spotlight cultural dialogue, creative collaboration, and environmental awareness. Hala is currently managing and facilitating part of Fann w Fenjen’s interviews with and between artists, bringing a unique and new perspective to artist visibility in media
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
- Hala (Halo) Srouji
