Zar Electrik: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

26:46

Vic Chesnutt: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

02:54

Shakira, Rauw Alejandro - Te Felicito (Alternate Video)

20:03

REBOLU: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

12:34

Dr. Dog: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

03:01

GAYLE - don’t call me pretty (diy music video)

19:35

Thandiswa Mazwai: Tiny Desk x globalFEST

534,221 views

Zar Electrik: Tiny Desk x globalFEST with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert

Lars Gotrich | April 2, 2025

In 2021, the Tiny Desk x globalFEST series was created to promote international music discovery. For the fifth edition, we present artists from Cabo Verde, France and Colombia.

Gnawa music has always been about breaking down barriers. With ecstatic vocalizations, stringed instruments and clashing percussion, this sound has roots in Morocco, but its West African influences are disparate and the diaspora is wide. Zar Electrik, a trio from Marseille, France, taps into that centuries-long tradition at the Tiny Desk.

Zar Electrik, whose name references a healing ritual from the Horn of Africa, takes a modern approach to Gnawa, not only infusing the music with electronic production but also an electric kora — creating a sub-Saharan rave sung in Arabic, French and Darija. "Chouf enour" is a cry for freedom, performed by vocalist Anass Zine with passion and empathy. He smiles as he briefly sings in English, "I love you, my sister / I love you, my brother." The trio closes with "Bala dima," an ode to the mystic nature of night — in the broad daylight of the NPR Music office, ululation erupted from a crowd transported to a midnight trance.

SET LIST

"Chouf enour"

"Bala dima"

MUSICIANS

Anass Zine: vocals, guitar, karkabous

Arthur Péneau: vocals, kora

Didier Simione: electronics

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Suraya Mohamed

Director/Editor: Maia Stern

Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell

Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter