Tamer Nafar is in Amsterdam, having already performed in seven European cities — Birkenhead, London, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, Brussels — by the time we speak. Touring his first solo album, In the Name of the Father, the Imam and John Lennon, the rapper and founding member of influential Palestinian collective DAM is adamant on discovering, or rather, refining his set-list to find the best sequence to convey his message.
Language and the arts that engage it are a dominant and recurring theme in Nafar’s life. Across music, acting, screenwriting, and activism, and being fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, it’s the positioning of the words and the sequence of narrative that he instead focuses on as we dive headfirst into our conversation.
“Last night, I think we got it right. I think we got it good, like I think we nailed it,” he says, looking at his touring bandmates in the room. “That sequencing of the story, which song to go after which, it’s so important. We like to get it right, to experiment, to tell that story.”
Through this album, Nafar’s decades-long journey through hip-hop, identity, and activism converges. In the Name of the Father, the Imam & John Lennon is a record that’s been years in the making and born out of urgency both personal and political.
