Today, Morocco-born Meryem Aboulouafa shares “Évanouie” HERE, another glimpse of her gently growing, intriguing world she is sowing the seeds of. Her upcoming debut album Meryem is coming out via the influential Parisian boutique label Animal63 (The Blaze etc) on May 29th (pre-save HERE).
Growing up and still living in Casablanca, she’s interwoven her Moroccan heritage with love for the English classics such as The Beatles, the Stones, Pink Floyd mixed with the Piaf, Brel and Brassen’s French chansons – all introduced to her by her father. Meryem’s music manages to reconcile solemn classicism and electronic modernity with writing and production assistance from Keren Ann, Para One and Ojard.
Meryem Aboulouafa about “Évanouie”: “This song was born from a great desire to explore the mysteries of a total lack of consciousness and its partial recovery. A consciousness that is sometimes so heavy that it vanishes to allow a deep sleep, with long breaths and the tension relief that usually follows great events, whether they are happy or sad. Having never fainted, I picture myself in this fictional story, the events of which are abstract – are these beautiful or bad emotions? Is it a recent meeting or some old story ? Who is this ? A brain reboot, like a new opportunity to live (things) again.”
As she pursued music theory and violin lessons at the Conservatory of Music, Meryem, a solitary child, took refuge in writing in order to tame her inner turmoil. Her Arabic and French poems formed the first step of her writing process. Before ever thinking about a career in music, Meryem was enrolled at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Casablanca to study interior design. During this time, she wrote her first songs alone on her guitar and, soon enough, her compositions and encounters began opening doors for her. Meryem had her first experiences working in a studio with more sophisticated instrumentations and performing on stage. When her music eventually reached the ears of Manu Barron, head of the French label Animal63, he was bewitched by Meryem’s sublime song “Ya Qalbi,” in which the Arabic song is coupled with modern effects that propel it into the 21st century.
In 2017, a meeting with Keren Ann organized by Manu Barron would prove significant for her career. The songwriter helped Meryem sort through ideas and desires, and showed her how to make her texts more fluid. On the production side, two artists tackled the construction and reconstruction of the tracks: Jean-Baptiste de Laubier, aka Para One, known for his energetic techno as well as the more contemplative soundtracks he created for Céline Sciamma’s cinema; and musician and composer Maxime Daoud, who produces soft melancholic music under the name Ojard.
Earlier, Meryem Aboulouafa revealed the first two songs from her upcoming album:
Her video for “Breath of Roma,” which references the myth of Romulus and Remus, evokes the feeling of rebirth Meryem felt when she first fell in love with Italy. “Ya Qalbi” is the only one of the old tracks that hasn’t been reworked, keeping all its original magic intact. Produced by Francesco Santalucia, “Ya Qalbi” is a very popular Algerian song from the Arab-Andalusian repertoire. The author of this song is unknown.
These hybrid productions would be nothing without the voice it serves, a voice that suits introspective texts in which Meryem questions, seeks, and sometimes finds herself, confessing emotions in a society in which sharing her feelings is not always welcome. “Through my songs, I found the context in which I can fully exist,” she explains.
