Sep 11

Sep 11 A Palestinian you should know: Tarik "Excentrik" Kazaleh

Print Issue, Palestine in America, Q&A, You Should Know, Music Edition

A Palestinian you should know:

Tarik "Excentrik" Kazaleh

The following was originally published in Palestine in America’s 2020 Music Edition. Order a print copy or download a digital copy today!

What’s your name?

Tarik "Excentrik" Kazaleh

Who are you?
Good question! I’m a proud baba to my amazing daughter Asmahan… I have a loving wife. I have a great life, which makes it hard to make angry music lol. I’m also one of the first Palestinian Arab MCs and producers in America. My brother Rhythmatik and I started releasing tracks on tape in the Bay Area and Detroit in the mid 90’s. I’m as well an Oud and Guitar player and sometimes bassist and drummer depending on the project.

Where do you live?
I’m from Oakland but recently my family bought a house in a little village called Martinez, CA

How has your experience been in the music scene there?
The funny thing is that I’m known in the Bay as an instrumental musician, and globally, I’m known as a hip hop artist. There is an unavoidable duality in my musical identity. Excentrik being the MC and producer, and Tarik Kazaleh being the multi-instrumentalist, experimental jazz and weird electronic musical dude. My main focus locally has been on co-leading Naima Shalhoub’s band and produced a recently released record, “Siphr.” In the Bay Area, I played in many different jazz bands, and iterations of jazz bands as an Oud player and guitarist, but I haven’t really felt that my musical identity is fully known in my home town. It’s because I have been involved in too many bands and projects. It’s like I have multiple identities, so it depends on which circle you talk to. In general, I have been shown nothing but love from my community. To sum it up, besides my stints overseas and in LA, I’ve been home way too long lol…

What type of music do you make and how did you get into it?
I make every kind of music that comes to me at the moment. It’s a tough question. Genre has always been a fleeting philosophy - I have never had a genre. I don’t really respect the idea of categorizing yourself into a genre, a box- really a final destination… I like too many types of music to be pigeonholed. I hate pasteurized music. When you make music, you want something inspiring- to be a better creator. Genre, when you’re adhering to one, it’s basically like you are a binary being- where there’s no nuance. Maybe I’m lucky that I’ve never been on a major label for very long and I have been able to dictate my music on my own terms and never had to adhere to a corporate marketing strategy, thankfully.

What kind of themes do you explore in your music / lyrics?
My favorite themes tend to be political, historical, and psychological in nature. In my early years, I was very anthemic. I believed that since there was so few Palestinian activist artists at that time (late 90’s), we needed to be extra, extra, extra… As I matured as an artist, and as I gained a larger following, I felt that I needed to become more nuanced in my messaging. I began to talk about more personal things that I have gone through. People started to ask for that - they wanted to know about Excentrik and who is that kid. It was weird to me - I always saw myself as a purely political artist, but I was getting to people on a personal level. That’s why Now Here Nowhere, my last studio album, was pretty personal and instrumental - less fist pumping and political vitriol, and I just gave them who I am.

What's your favorite lyric you've ever written?
“I seen the stones in the clutches of the youngest get thrown/ And the hunger of them full belly’d crushing their homes/ I’ve seen the smoke of smoldering hope suffocate dreams/ I think it changed the color of the sky purplish green/ I seen the strength of a survivor clutching his key/ seen the lock in the sky above the dragons decree/ said he was sick of living in this prison permanently/ closed his teary eyes and told me: “you’re a refugee”

Brag about yourself: have you collaborated with any cool artists?
Bragging: We were the beginning of Palestinian hiphop in the U.S. It was Excentrik, Rhythmatik (My brother Chris Gazaleh that early on went by Masari) and a bit little later, Iron Sheik. I was a founding member of Arab Summit with Narcy, Omar Offendum, and Ragtop. I’ve collaborated with many diverse talents such as Suheir Hammad, DAM, Binary Star, Mark Gonzales, Naima Shalhoub, The Philistines, The N.O.M.A.D.S., Marcus Shelby, Country Joe McDonald, Aaron Kierbel, Ed Baskerville, Mingus Amungus, Walter Earl, NAR, Josh Allen, Joe Nami, Dante LaSalle, Invincible, Ramallah Underground, Fredwreck, Noura Erakat, Boots Riley, Big A, Zaoski… I’ve also performed alongside other hella talented, underground and lesser known artists throughout the years as well.
I have also helped score films such as Chronicles of a Refugee (Adam Shapiro, Perla Issa, Aseel Mansour), Tale of the Three Mohammads (Nasri Zacharia) and Detroit Unleaded (Rola Nashef).

Any dream collaborations that you're trying to manifest?
I’d love to play guitar in Slayer- no joke… But for real, I would really love to get Arab Summit back together and make some dope music. The four of us back as a unit- more mature, with lessons of life under us would be a dream. Also, one day I’ll be doing a whole orchestral remix of Ravel’s Bolero using only Arabic instruments (and maybe an 808). I’m hoping Marcel Khalifeh would like to help.
How does your Palestinian family / friends / community support you?
In the beginning, no one supported me, except for my mom. A lot of our community looked at us early hip hop artists as faking in some ways, as if we were acting true to our roots… For us- we were born artists, and a lot of Arab kids at that time were discouraged from pursuing art. For them, looking at people like me doing my thing, living my life freely, they were probably envious of that sense of freedom. It progressed: people started to realize that simply being a political wonk, and engineer, a doctor, etc. wasn’t inspiring new young folks into the movement for Palestine. We became an inspiring avenue for young people to join political and cultural movements. This was not a novelty, this wasn’t a fleeting trend; this was real movement shit; we were trailblazers for a new avenue for change. People were listening to us and joining the movement through music, not traditional routes of listening to out of touch elders or reading articles; they were getting the messages through us. On a personal level, my closest family and friends have been 100% supportive because they know that for better or worse, this is who I am.

How does Arab or Palestinian music / culture find its way into the music you make? (if at all)
In every possible thread of every possible note; in every song, moment. It’s impossible to separate Palestinian influence in the music I make. It’s intrinsic. It is most of me- what I am. The reality is - the initial impetus to create music for me was the feeling of being unaccepted by society because of my identity and heritage, because of who I am. It was a reaction to rejection. That’s what I am. A damned Palestinian. I have always, and will continue to work within that paradigm. I don’t have much of a choice…

What kind of future would you like to see for diaspora Palestinians in music?
I think we need to be more assertive with our distinct identity- politically and culturally… I see too much basic-ass-shit with no Palestinian originality being put out these days… We as a people have so much to offer our audiences that isn’t just “pan-Arab” or even Arab pop- or worse: American pop. You have no idea how much it bums me out when I see a new artist gaining followers online and I listen to their work and I’m like… “Wow. More boring bullshit that sounds just like the next trending ‘artist.’” I also think we need to be a bit more collaborative professionally to protect and put each other on. I know my generation did. Imagine a world where a DJ Khaled actually supported his massive community of Palestinian artists? Imagine Bella Hadid or her father retweeting underground and young Palestinian artists? The cultural impact would be massive. They’d help humanize our community overnight because their following is so wide… No more “Arab-Jarab.”

What's the best career advice you've ever received?
My homie and longtime collaborator, the artist Mitch Gibson told me: “T! You either gonna be YOU- or someone gonna tell you what to DO…” I’ve often found myself intentionally going against whatever the accepted cannon of the moment was. At times, it’s counterproductive, but I have to feel like I’m fighting something to feel that I’m personally relevant - to create beyond what is expected. To be that “other” just feels right…

In the near future, Palestine is free, we're throwing a big party there to celebrate, and everybody gets to play some music, what records (not your own) are you bringing to play at the party?
Too many records to mention, but some of the first set will be: hella War, hella Cymande, Joe Bataan, Dr. John, Third World, some Tosh, Fela, Manu Dibango… Definitely the first five Funkadelic albums… I’m bringing All Eyez On Me (Because Palestine in the late 90’s was 2Pac territory)… Second set would be a little bit more somber. It would be the end of the night- three nights into it- everyone is coming down from the high, assuming this is like one of those 90’s type of raves. I’d play late 60s and early 70s jazz and funk… Asmahan. Definitely some Sonbati and Munir Bashir… Miles Davis, specifically Lonely Fire - and Big Fun… circle up to feel united, to feel together, bumping something spiritual. I’d probably also bump Fairuz, Marcel… my Sedo’s old Sufi tapes, Abdel Halim, and definitely some cheesy early 2000’s Arabi pop to get us back up in the morning.