Here and Now (Live at City Club)

Walid Ben Selim, from Casablanca, started out as a rapper, most notably leading contemporary Arabic-language band N3rdistan, but since then has become more devoted to poetry and singing, which he’s been doing since the age of five, thanks to his mother. On Here and Now, he revisits texts from ancient Arab poets inspired by Sufism throughout the centuries, from first- to third-century poets Abu Nuwas, Mansur Al-Hajjaj, Ibn Zeydoun, Ibn Arabi and Rumi to the late contemporary Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008). Selim’s minimal, delicate and passionate musical adaptation of these love incantations, in duet with French classical harpist Marie-Marguerite Cano, has been a shivering success on stage and was named the Orange Foundation’s Coup de Cœur at Babel XP in 2023. This album was recorded live in Pully, Switzerland in November 2023 and exemplifies the divine taste they give to this repertoire.