Habibi Festival at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!

Hailed by Radio France Internationale as “a Tunisian man in NY, one of the most talented jazzmen of his generation,” Yacine Boulares is a French-Tunisian saxophonist, composer, and curator. After graduating from the Paris National Conservatory, Yacine moved to New York on a Fulbright scholarship in 2009 to attend the New School for Jazz. NYC exposed him to a myriad of different musics. Soon, he began touring with Fela Kuti's ex-drummer Jojo Kuo and Haitian Kompa legends Tabou Combo (since 2013). In their music, he found a deep echo of his Tunisian roots.

These influences inspired him to seek his own identity, and his explorations of North and West African rhythms led to the creation of AJOYO—a blend of African tradition, jazz, and soul. AJOYO released two albums in 2015 and 2020. (War Chant was awarded Best Global Music EP at the Independent Music Awards in 2020.)

In 2014, Yacine was featured on Plácido Domingo’s Encanto del Mar as a soloist and arranger. There, he met cellist Vincent Segal and conceived the idea to explore the Tunisian Stambeli repertoire with drummer Nasheet Waits. In 2015, the trio—Abu Sadiya—was awarded the French American Jazz Exchange grant, the Arab Fund for the Arts and Culture, and the Brooklyn Arts Fund. The album—released in 2017—was hailed by Le Monde as “a glittering instrumental suite, all fluidity and golden colors.” The trio performed at Jazzahead in 2017, and their U.S. tours included the Lincoln Center and the Jazz Gallery in NYC.

In 2019, Yacine was selected to be part of the Joe’s Pub Working Group, where he developed the concept of Ifriqiya, a multimedia performance exploring Afro-Arabic rhythmic traditions through film and composition. His residency also led to the creation of the Habibi Festival in New York—the first U.S. music festival dedicated to contemporary Arabic music (now in its third year).

In 2020, Yacine was commissioned by the Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Tunis to create Night in Tunisia, a new project re-appropriating Dizzy Gillespie’s standard through a suite of original compositions blending Tunisian rhythms, soul, and Arabic traditions. In 2022, Night in Tunisia evolved into the collective OSOOL and toured the U.S. twice (Habibi Festival, Duke University, Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, Drom, The ArtYard...).

In 2023, he was part of Archie Shepp’s creation at BAM, "The Cry of My People", alongside Jason Moran, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Amina Claudine Myers, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, and Amir El Saffar. Yacine is a 2023–24 National Arts Club Fellow.

Sofiane Saidi is an Algerian-born singer, songwriter, and musician who has gained international recognition for his unique blend of contemporary electronic music and traditional North African sounds. Born and raised in the vibrant city of Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, Sofiane's musical journey began at a young age when he discovered a passion for singing and performing.

Drawing inspiration from his cultural heritage and the diverse musical traditions of Algeria, Sofiane embarked on a mission to bridge the gap between past and present, fusing traditional Raï music with modern electronic beats and production techniques. His innovative approach quickly gained attention and allowed him to carve out a niche in the global music scene. He has collaborated with renowned musicians and producers from various genres – ranging from Senegalese hip-hop artists Tukuleur to Acid Arab, Natacha Atlas, Smadj, and Raina Rai.

Over the years, Sofiane has released several critically acclaimed albums, including El Mordjane and Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda. Through his artistry, he continues to celebrate and preserve the rich musical heritage of Algeria while simultaneously pushing its boundaries into new and exciting territories. With his passion, talent, and unwavering dedication to his craft, Sofiane Saidi is aptly named the “Prince of Raï 2.0.”

Israa Shalaby is a solo Palestinian singer, songwriter, and visual artist. She has developed a unique and versatile style of singing and songwriting that reflects the wide diversity of musical genres she has been exposed to and influenced by throughout her creative journey. Her work explores minimal sonic textures, musical scales, rhythms, and frequencies.

Using her voice, keyboard/synth, shamanic drum, indigenous instruments, and pre-recorded natural sounds, Shalaby’s musical approach becomes a corporeal amalgamation of indigenous, Eastern, and Western music, classical Arabic ambience, and a ritualistic, witchy approach to live performance. Her lyrics draw from Sufi-inspired themes, blending affirmation mantras and spells that reflect both individual, hermetic introspection and collective life journeys with raw romanticism.

Through symbolic metaphors in Arabic dialects – including rural Levantine and Egyptian – Shalaby’s music becomes an embodiment of decolonization and the reclamation of narratives. Her work is deeply rooted in a spiritual connection to the environment and landscapes of her homelands, as well as the physical body. The addition of hypnotic English affirmation mantras acts as a call to action, bridging East and West through a new, hybrid exploration of indigenous music.

Vibraphonist, composer, arranger, and educator Nikara Warren is a true Brooklynite, born and raised. The granddaughter of world-renowned jazz pianist Kenny Barron and the daughter of a half-Trinidadian soca/dancehall-loving father and a classic 90s “Brooklyn ’Round the Way” girl mother, Warren is taking vibes to the people with her infectious compositional sense, her postmodern patchwork of influences and cultural signposts, and her fearless musicality. Her bold quest comes from being well-versed in the vibraphone lineage, yet she continues to venture beyond it. Music critic Kira Grunenberg writes that NIKARA presents Black Wall Street “doesn’t project its versatility and creative range through scholarly jazz arrangements or covers chasing perfectionism. Instead, it offers original music converged around a stylistically fluid foundation.”

Warren’s debut album, Black Wall Street, represents a convergence of her personal, cultural, familial, and musical journeys. On it, she explores abstract sound-collage, hip-hop, jazz, neo-soul, Afro-Latino and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and more. It is an eclectic but cohesive study of how people’s identities are shaped by their varied heritage and associations.

NIKARA presents Black Wall Street released their sophomore album The Queen of Kings County via Switch Hit Records on October 18, 2024. The album, made with support from a prestigious grant by the NYFA Women’s Fund for Music, is a deeply personal homage to Warren’s hometown of Brooklyn. “This album emerges from the complex realities of Brooklyn,” says Warren, “a place where dreams are pursued relentlessly against a backdrop of gentrification, where affluence is mixed with social struggle. Through my compositions and arrangements, I explore the rich tapestry of Black American music, including Brooklyn’s vibrant Caribbean heritage, blending feel-good melodies, improvisation, rap, and electronic elements to create a sound that is both reflective and revolutionary.”