Name: Clara Kossaifi

Nationality: Lebanese  
Current release: Clara Kossaifi's debut single "Keef" is out now via Shuruq.
Recommendations: Emily Nasrallah’s writings; Jocelyne Saab’s films

If you enjoyed this interview with Clara Kossaifi and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram.

When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

Music was as vital as food within my family. At family gatherings, no one would leave the table before singing for at least two hours, most often Arabic legends like Fairuz, Um Kulthum, and Sabah Fakhri.



At the same time as I was singing Fairuz at the dinner table, I was training for hours to become a classical singer, performing on international stages. In my mid-twenties, I realized I had been sheltering in the classical expression of my musicality and decided to take the risk of exploring how I wanted to express myself and my linguistic and musical identity.

Although my work now is not classical in nature, I owe my technical stability to the many, many hours I spent in the classical world. I have since been constructing my sound using aspects of my life and the society surrounding me which I feel need to be spoken of.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Music is what calms my anxiety.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Searching for a personal voice is a process. It took me years to find my own voice, and I expect it to take me many more years to hone it.

Part of building my sound and my expression was the active choice to write my lyrics in Arabic. I grew up in a multilingual context in which Arabic felt like the secondary language, but it’s the language in which I feel most comfortable expressing the issues I give voice to in my music.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Although Arabic does not carry as much social currency around me, it carries an enormous amount of emotional currency.

The Arabic legends at my family’s dinner table are the first ingredient to my listening and creative identity.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

For me, my sound and my creative identity is most accessible when I need to release something that is pent up or when I need to soothe some internal pain.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

The past and the future should only be dwelled on in the service of authenticity.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

The act of writing and using words as an element of my sound is ultimately a tool for me to convey stories and ideas that I want people to be able to relate to.

The power that I feel when someone says that they can see themselves in my work, is what brings me back to giving words the weight they deserve.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

When I first looked at this question, I thought, “my daily life is entirely unrelated to my music.” But after reflecting, I realized that everything I do in my daily life is relevant to my musical expression.

From the songs I listen to on my morning jog, to the social issues I handle in the office, my weekly life prepares me for my weekends which permit me the time to spend writing.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

My creative process always begins with words. I write lyrics and then the music comes in.

One memory of a live recording that was dear to me, was my first performance of “Keef”, my first single, with Shuruq Music. It was my first time singing one of my own songs in front of an audience.

Sharing such an intimate part of myself with the team behind Shuruq was an experience in which I felt seen, heard, and that my own work was moving my audience.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

The solitary and the communal are both necessary, each in their own time.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

As a singer-songwriter, a filmmaker, but also a researcher in the field of sociology, my art is always speaking of and with the social struggle.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Music has been a way for me to soothe myself in the most difficult moments of my life. Music has also been the presence that has filled the void and created familiarity and safety through grief.

My most difficult loss was that of my father, and music was the reason I was able to understand my grief and overcome it – even if it took time. I am now in the process of finalizing my first EP that explores this topic.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

I don’t.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

While mundane tasks can also soothe the mind, music has the ability to not only soothe but also access a part of us that is usually buried beneath many socialized layers. Often these layers run so deep that we are not even aware of how numerous they are.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it is able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Music is on one level vibrational, but on another level, it is about what we communicate when we chose to use lyrics as a further layer.

Music has an indefinable and fantastical impact on the body and on the mind, but can also be very intentional with the words used in conjunction with the melodies and rhythms.

Our words give us the power to spark a response.