Nabeel: the Iraqi-American band giving us Arab indie rock

Nabeel is the band—formed by Iraqi-American musician Yasir Razak—bringing us all the nostalgia with his Arab-diasporic take on 90s indie rock shoegaze music. Embodying all facets of Nabeel’s identity, Nabeel excavates his family’s Iraqi archives to bring us grunge in Arabic, laced with diasporic sentimentality. Based in Richmond VA, shoegaze underscored much of his childhood in the United States; his Arabic iteration is a gift of what never was. 

Nabeel’s journey as an artist began with the common interstitial experience of immigrants—yearning for a home that he had never truly experienced. “Most diaspora kids have this kind of crisis of longing for home,” Nabeel explains the familiar heartbreak to Dazed MENA. “In my 20s, the urge to feel close to Iraq really began to pull at me. I became obsessed with looking back at old family archives and imagining a life in Iraq I didn’t get to live.” 

Simultaneously, Nabeel felt a connection to his upbringing in the US and the realm of alternative music it opened to him. Though Arabic music and Indie rock had not ostensibly intersected before, Nabeel began to envision their intersection, longing to bridge these two dimensions of his identity. “I wanted to create a space where both sides of me could exist together,” Nabeel tells Dazed MENA. That’s when I started seeking out alternative Arabic music and discovered other Arab artists pushing the boundaries of the genre. It inspired me to write my first songs for Nabeel in the winter of 2021, blending these influences into something that finally felt fully me.”

The result of this synthesis in Nabeel’s tracks makes it sound like an entirely organic union. Thrumming with raw emotion and the resonance of the real, the music doesn’t sound like a threshold for the greeting of two genres but something entirely its own. His songs sound like the process of trying to piece together fragmented memories of one’s childhood in retrospect. It’s no surprise that Nabeel’s creative process is rooted in feeling, driven by moments where other modes of expression fail him. “I write music when I feel I have no other outlet or when everything else feels like a let down,” Nabeel shares. “Also, my connection to my family and to Iraq inspires me.”

In June 2020, Nabeel was invited to perform at a benefit concert for Gaza in New York City, organised by Kullective—an art and community collective centred around Palestine. Sharing the stage with notable artists from the MENA region such as Emel Malthlouthi and Riz La Vie, Nabeel considers it a defining moment in his journey, cementing to him the power of activism through music. “It was hands down the most meaningful show we’ve played to date,” Nabeel speaks to Dazed MENA about the show, which raised $27,000 to go toward Heal Palestine and build a field hospital in Gaza. “I felt very lucky to be a part of the event.”

As an artist, Nabeel is fervently resistant to boundaries in music and in self-expression. In putting out his music, he hopes he can stand as an example that one does not need to play within the lines already drawn up for them. “I am hoping to inspire more Arab artists to experiment with different genres of music and mediums of art,” Nabeel reveals. “As Arabs, especially Arabs of the diaspora, we often hold ourselves to high standards, afraid to try new things for fear of criticism. I want to inspire younger generations of Arabs in the MENA region and diaspora to unabashedly express themselves through whatever means they choose.”

A key aspect of Nabeel’s growth has been connecting with other artists and creatives in the MENA region. Thanks to social media, Nabeel has found a global community of like-minded musicians and listeners who are equally passionate about alternative Arabic music, proving that the demand exists outside the context of his particular dispersed upbringing. “It’s not just about the artists—I also get messages from young Iraqis who, like me, are passionate about discovering alternative Arabic music online,” the artist shares. “It’s Inspiring to see a new generation of creatives in the region expressing themselves in exciting, non-traditional waves. I’m so proud that Nabeel is part of that movement and that people see it as a source of inspiration for the future of Arab indie music.”
Right now, Nabeel is putting the finishing touches on Nabeel’s next EP, which promises to be as transient and mind-melting as his other tracks. “I’m really excited for this next batch of songs,” the artist shares with Dazed MENA. Nabeel’s music is literally notched between worlds, waiting to be experienced by all lovers of the alternative.