Review: Yasmine Hamdan - Ya Nass
[Crammed Discs; 2014]
Rating: 4/10
Xavier Veccia, Features Editor
Key Tracks: "Bala Tantanat," "Enta Fen, Again"
Lyrics are important to the make-up of a song, there’s no doubt about that. But ultimately, the voice is an instrument just like any other. The timbre and pattern of a person’s voice can make or break a song.
Or at least that’s what this writer is telling himself as he listens to an album in a language he knows nothing about.
When Colin Roose, ACRN’s local albums editor, said Yasmine Hamdan was Middle Eastern pop, it was just sort of assumed by this writer that it would still be in English. But this writer was wrong and now this writer is facing a complex journalistic issue: is it cultural bias if I don’t like Ya Nass?
It’s not that Hamdan is untalented. According to the always knowledgeable Wikipedia, she’s basically an underground Arabic music goddess.
In the early stages of her career, Hamdan was apart of the Lebanese indie electro-pop group Soapkills along with popular Arabic producer Zeid Hamdan (no relation). Later on, after she moved to Paris, Hamdan even collaborated with the almighty CocoRosie. After 15-plus years in “the biz,” she’s got stories to tell. It’s just that they make no sense to an English speaker.
There’s some worthwhile production scattered throughout Ya Nass. "Bala Tantanat" sounds vaguely like Bon Iver’s “Holocene” with the soft string of the guitar. And “Enta Fen, Again” has some trip-hop synths with vocal distortions.
But ultimately, all the songs seem to run together when the lyrics mean nothing. Of course, I’m sure the lyrics do mean something. But without much emotion behind Hamdan’s voice, it’s just a literally foreign language.
That’s the thing, though. I’m here beating myself up for not being able to understand Hamdan’s native dialect, but listeners shouldn't have to in order to like the artist’s music.
Bands like Samaris are able to craft masterful tracks without ever saying a word in English. Hell, even Hamdan’s Soapkills was able to keep this writer’s attention better than Ya Nass.
It’s pointless to act like “Mediya” doesn’t have a corny bassline or that “Hal” doesn’t drone on simply because the listener doesn’t want to seem biased. Music doesn’t have a language barrier. The subpar production and the emotionless singing on Ya Nass wouldn’t disappear even if the lyrics made sense. If this writer doesn’t like Ya Nass, it’s not because of the lack of comprehensible lyrics or the Middle Eastern influence, it’s just because it’s not that good.
