TPFF Presents Excentrik X NARCY: On Song, Storytelling and Worldbuilding
Celebrated Alternative Arab musicians NARCY and Excentrik have been collaborators for close to 20 years. In this unique sit-down event, the two will discuss their roles in the evolving world of Arab-Forward music, the role of the artist in times of great upheaval and worldbuilding outside the reality we exist in through song and lyric.
Sharing the stage, they invite us into the making of their latest releases, NARCY's magnus opus "To Be An (Arab)" and Excentrik's Instrumental soundtrack to Palestine "Watani77" and the perils of Identity politics in pop culture. Music and video will weave through their conversation to create an immersive experience.
They will conclude the night by spinning vinyl together - playing classics and contemporary music from Arab artists back home and in the Diaspora.
Date: October 3, 7:30pm
Venue: TIFF Lightbox, Gallery
NARCY is a celebrated multi-hyphenate. He is commonly known as the formative Iraqi voice in Hip-Hop culture and a staunch believer in independence. His work has spanned across genres - from songs with yasiin bey and Dave Chappelle, Yo-Yo Ma and Mashrou ' Leila, Todd Rundgren and Mo Amer. His directorial work has garnered him awards, and his professorship at Concordia University have been international news making announcements, mixing the current zeitgeist in Hip-Hop with philosophy, media studies and political science. He is currently teaching a class on Drake in the Fall. He is also the co-owner of MAKTABA Bookshop in the heart of Old Montréal.
Excentrik is a SF Bay Area based Palestinian multimedia artist, producer and musician. Known as a pioneer of Arab American hip hop, his expansive body of work spans records, film scores, and experimental projects including the genre-less solo album Now Here, Nowhere. He co-produced the Arab Summit album, “Fear of an Arab Planet” alongside Narcy and Omar Offendum as well as Naima Shalhoub’s debut LP Siphr, which led to the formation of the Arabic-groove quartet, The Shadow Band. His latest album, Watani 77, is an improvised 77-minute somber ode to 77 years of Nakba, colonization and occupation in Palestine.