Hindi Zahra & Zineb Andress Arraki

Conversation / Back and Forth

Text: Mouna Anajjar. Photos: Zineb Andress Arraki.

They met in Casablanca in 2016 – when Hindi Zahra was looking or a rehearsal space – and immediately became inseparable. Since then, they have given free and ebullient rein to the principles that animate their work, pushing the boundaries of convention in a shared quest for freedom. In a free-floating conversation, they gave us a sneak peek of their collaboration – including photos from Essaouira by Zineb Andress Arraki that will be used during Hindi Zahra’s tour, slated for July, in advance of the release of her new album.

M Mouna

H Hindi

Z Zineb

M Hindi Zahra, who are you?

H I am a musician, singer, and artist. I make music. That’s pretty much the main theme of my life.

M And you, Zineb Andress Arraki, who are you?

Z Well, for starters, I’m alive – not bad in the covid era! I am…I don’t know. I was trained as an architect, but I do many things related to architecture. I think what I love to do more than anything else is build universes.

M Do you have a problem with defining yourself?

Z I have a problem with defining anything. When we define things, it’s like they become fixed, whereas things are actually in a constant state of change.

M Zahra, you’re a musician and you paint as well…

H I’m not a painter. It’s just something I do to balance out the music.

M Do you feel the need to do something on the side, somethingthat nourishes or rejuvenates you, that is not music?

H I think my meetups with Zineb are something like that. I create a sonic universe, but visual things are also very important to us musicians. The idea is to find, not a mirror exactly, but someone with whom you can collaborate on a common concept. Each artist has to have her own space, and then it depends…Zineb and I, we never said to each other “she’s coming into my world.” or “I’m coming into her world.” We really created a space where each of us could do what we wanted.

Z Right. That’s true.

H It’s true and it’s great. In the music world, people often give us orders, and we make something very visual, very aesthetic, very commercial, that the clients can grasp very quickly. To step out of that commercialism, you have to meet other artists who have an individual style that is noncommercial and has a humanistic vision and an artistic vision, parallel to our musical one.

M How did you two meet?

Z We met in Casablanca in 2016. Zahra and her band were looking for a rehearsal space. And since my place is basically “the Casablanca culture and party house” [laughs] they came over one night…and Zahra and I have been friends ever since.

H What astonished me about Zineb was her electricity. She’s very lively. It was so nice to encounter someone with so much energy. And also the place where she lived, since your home says a lot about you. It was great to go to someone’s house where you can have real conversations and…