Take a Deep-Dive Into our Lyrics & Tracklist

Tracklist for all songs on Kuwaisiana's debut album, Chapter 1

Kuwaisiana is a proudly bilingual project developed by +Aziz. Below are the tracks on our debut release, Chapter 1. You can listen to the development of the New Orleans sound across Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

For me, part of being Kuwaiti today means engaging with many potent thoughts with poetic confidence: xenophobia, censorship, money laundering, identity policing, Arab supremacy, faking history, nepotism, homophobia, the relationship between the powerful and their victims… failed democracy. This is to a large extent what I care about, so addressing some of these topics will be an achievement.

There’s certain absurdist despair embedded in the Kuwaiti identity (and perhaps the Khaleeji identity too) that I think warrants lots of artistic attention. What does it mean to be Arab today? What does it feel like to be a young Khaleeji today? To what extent can a Kuwaiti feel at home in the Arab-American diaspora? What is the Arabian Peninsula’s role in the Middle East as the world’s fragmentation increases? Shoot me a message and enjoy the tunes!!

(ڤنتج) Vintage

A song about being discarded. Drawing inspiration from Kuwait’s ‘Friday Market’, where you can find everything from cute animals to scrap machine parts. Vintage is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek story about falling in love with someone from a younger generation and ending up feeling like being sold for cheap in the local flea market.

Verse

Take me to the Friday market

Sell me off, be done with the likes of me

Put me in a crappy shopping cart

Push me off the highest skyscraper

Chorus

Dead are the days when I was your love

Gone are the days when I was your love

Vintage are the days I was your love

Beware! The promises of new generation.

Verse

Take me to the Friday market

She tells me your song has no benefit

Sell me off, cheaper than a chicklet

Put me in the middle of a whale’s stomach

Chorus

Dead are the days when I was your love

Gone are the days when I was your love

Vintage are the days I was your love

Beware! The promises of new generation.

Verse I

ودّيني ودّيني سوق الجمعة

بيعيني بيعيني من كل امثالي بتفتكّين

حطّيني حطّيني في عربانة سكراب

دزّيني دزّيني من أعلى ناطحة سحاب

CH

أيام ماتت أيام ماتت كنت لك حبيب

أيام فاتت أيام ماتت كنت لك حبيب

كنت لك حبيب vintage أيام

دير بالك من وعود الجيل الجديد

Verse II

ودّيني ودّيني سوق الجمعة

تقول لي تقول لي أغنيتك ما منها فائدة

بيعيني بيعيني أرخص من الكتكوت

حطّيني حطّيني في وسط بطن حوت

CH

(مُرةٌ) Murra

A bipolar song, driven by abstracted poetic language. This is one of two songs in formal Arabic (فصحة). It paints a static yet metaphorically rich scene where the protagonist reflects on a bittersweet life through a morning coffee.

Verse

My morning coffee is the color of the night

What it lacks, though, is a lunar disc whispering ceased since yesterday.

Chorus

Everyday, it’s bitter

VII

My morning coffee tastes like pain

A coffee-flavored piece of chocolate.

My morning coffee is the color of the night

The sun sets in my cup

Chorus

Everyday, it’s bitter

Verse I

بلون الليل قهوتي الصباحية

ينقصها قرص قمر غاب همسه عن أمس

CH

مُرةٌ / كل يوم

Verse II

بطعم الألم قهوتي الصباحية

قطعة شيكولاتة بنكهة البن

بلون الليل قهوتي الصباحية

تنكسف الشمس في فنجاني

CH

مُرةٌ / كل يوم

Gashxi (گشِّي)

Gashxi is about holding/finding ground amidst uncertainty and chaos. A song about banding together. The lyrics are a response to the aftermath of intense urbanization and the role of making music as a means to endure the world spiraling out of control.

Verse

A magazine with never-ending pages

It contains adverts which chase me around

They caught up to me and tripped me up

Search for your ground

Hands on your heart

Chorus

Come along above love

Music that protects us

Music to protect us from our inner demons

A band that lifts us from skyscrapers.

Verse II

A building without an infrastructure

An ad without an ending

They finish what I have to say, as if expressing my thoughts.

Stabilize my body

With my hands are on my heart.

CH

We built a high fence

A shadow protecting us from our neighbors’ evils

A band protecting us from our inner demons

BRIDGE

Chorus

We built Kuwaisiana.

We built Kuwaisiana.

Songs which distance us from our inner demons

A wall protecting us from the sins of America

Verse I

مجلّة صفحاتها ما تخلص

فيها إعلانات تلحقني

وُصَلّتي تشان تعرقلني

دوّر ارضك / إيدك على قلبك

CH I

تعالو فوق الهواء

موسيقى تحمينّا من شرور نفوسنا

فرقة ترفعنا من ناطحات سحّاب

VII

بناية بدون هيكل

دعاية بدون نهاية

تكمّل كلامي, كأنها تعبّرعن أفكاري.

يوّد گشّي

إيدي على قلبي

CH II

بنينا سور عالي

ظلٌ يحمينا من شرور جيرانا

فرقة تحمينا من شرور نفوسنا

BRIDGE

CH III

بنينا كويزيانا

أغاني تبعدنا من شرور نفوسنا

طوفة تحمينا من ذنوب أمريكا

Gabba Barra (گبَّة بَرَّة)

A sarcastic imagining of how the Sufis were kicked out of the Arabian Peninsula once conservative Islam gradually took over. The song juxtaposes personal insights from Sufi philosophy and its exuberant spiritual value (in the verses) with rude contempt for Sufi principles (heard in the chorus).

Verse

The recycling of our personalities

Begins from a moment of recovery.

No going back after our doors are opened

Break them down for eternity.

Chorus

Sufi Islam we don’t want it.

Throw them out, from their arms and legs.

Throw them out, from their legs and arms.

We cut the breath of the Arabian Peninsula

Verse II

The pressure of the world mounted up on us

The natives of this land beat the shit out of us

The pressure of the world broke our hands

Arrows deepening in our bodies

Chorus

Verse III

We don’t want to return their salam.

Pleasantries wasted on dead hearts.

Man, don’t tell us about their philosophies.

Throw them out of the country right away!

Chorus

V

إعادة تكوين شخصياتنا

تبدأ من لحظة إنتعاشها

لا عودة بعد فتح ابوابنا

تكسير فيها للنهاية 

CH

إسلام الصوفي مانابي

گطوهم برّة ريل او إيد

گطوهم برة إيد او ريل

عيدوا التاريخ من جديد 

VII

ضغط الدنيا گام علينا

آل الديرة غسلوا شراعنا

ضغط الدنيا كسّر إيدنا

أسهم تتعمق في أجسامنا

CH

إسلام الصوفي مانابي

گطوهم برّة ريل او إيد

گطوهم برة إيد او ريل

گطعنا نفس الخليج

VIII

ما ودنى نرد على سلامهم

مجاملات على قلب ميت 

لا تحكيلنا عن فلسفاتهم

حذف برة الديرة ريل او إيد

 

CH

إسلام الصوفي مانابي

گطوهم برّة ريل او إيد

گطوهم برة إيد او ريل

قطعنا نفس الخليج

Nada (نَدى)

Kuwaisiana’s flavor-blast of a song about the girl next door. In Arabic, the word “Nada” also means dew. The song’s lyrics are loaded with references to nature and aquatic elements.

Verse I

Purify my green leaves

Wash away the dust of pride.

Are you the most beautiful or the Goddess of Rain’s daughter?

CH

Nada – our neighbor’s daughter

Nada – she’s a lake in a drop of water.

Verse II

Nada, pure & transparent

You torture me with your sweetness

I can not taste you

CH

Nada – our neighbor’s daughter

She’s a lake in a drop of water.

VI

طهري أوراقي الخضراء

إغسليها من غبار الكبرياء

وانزحي عليها ببطء

حسناء هي أنت؟ أم بنت إله الَمطر؟

| CH

ندى بنت جيراّنا \ ندى بحيرة في قطرة ماء

VII

نقية شفافة ندى

عذبتني بعذوبتك

لا أ ستطيع تذوقك

CH

ندى بنت جيراّنا \ ندى بحيرة في قطرة ماء

Virgin

The lyrics on Virgin are inspired by the military-industrial complex that seems to have plagued the world’s superpowers and trickled into our personal space globally. Strong references here to gun culture, police brutality, drone wars, virtual reality, first-person shooter video games, and (of course) pornography!

Give me a joystick | Take me to warships

I’m a virgin | with a pink gun

The last silo | wants to lay low

Upgrade police force | Dressed in camo

A hand floating around killing people.

A drone flying around, stealing land.

——

A hand floating around killing people

A drone buzzing around, carpet bombing

I want to be free from the violence that surrounds me

Give me the key to the oxygen in the coffin.

Ambushed by our nature

History repeating itself

Spread your legs, there’s no place like home

On a pornoshoot

Ambushed by our nature

I’m a virgin

in a VR headset

Show me the army

occupy me

Men in Power

A soft alt-country ballad, written when I relocated from New York City to Bywater, a neighborhood in New Orleans. The lyrics here explore the waining power of patriotism, deterioration of the social fabric and wishing for a simpler time.

VI

Gosh it’s hard to replace

The innocence of a child

Hypnotized by the land

That was once shining bright

The weights of time broke apart

Put every bond in the fog

Blurry lights, a signs of time

Brought to you by the men in power.

CH | I stay way in the south / I stick right by the water

VII

Take me back to the basics

Oh youth speak to me again

I’m in a hurry, such a hurry

To find my identity

CH | I stay way in the south / I stick right by the water

VIII

Oh I’m so far from that place

Where my heart does operate

Yes I yearn to replace

the lies of men in power.

The Journalist

A song about a documentarian who was so obsessed with Palestinian affairs, that she became emotionally unavailable. The song tells the story of how she became traumatized upon crossing an Israeli checkpoint, where she saw a boy being shot.

VI

Door-to-door she talked to / Refugees without a refuge

Between a hard and a good life / A hotel and a war crime

People watching all day / Writing down everything they say

Elders kissed her forehead / Children knew her name

CH

My bloody Valentine / in love with Palestine

VII

Driving down with a young boy

Swallow salt with their hands

Haunted by that moment, they say “kill them all with lasers!”

CH

My bloody Valentine / in love with Palestine

VIII

Heavy skin on her eyelids

Sun between the clouds is thick

The darkness of their robots

They’ll take your land with cold eyes

My bloody Valentine in love with Palestine

Say Yea

Say Yea is a reaction to the traditionalism upheld by many Muslim families, and the elaborate rights of passage suitors must go through in order to prove that a marriage is viable.

Verse I

We’re driving

past the deepest fear I have.

Rejection tastes so sweet.

I rebuild my confidence.

Turn to your baba.

And ask him for your hand

He ripped one into the curb.

And we laughed until it hurt.

CHORUS

I will wait for you | Will you be waiting for me?

Till your daddy says yea, your mama say yea

Till your siblings say yea, and all your friends say yea

VERSE II

You’re searching for answers

Memorizing the book

So you cut me from your life

I rebuild my confidence

Turn to your mama

I see you in her eyes

Ignoring the alarm

The deepest fear I have

CHORUS

I will wait for you | Will you be waiting for me?

Till your daddy says yea, your mama say yea

Till your siblings say yea, and all your friends say yea!

VIII

I’m down by the Quarter | Find a second line

Get myself in front of them & I’m out to space again.

I’m searching for answers | Clawing through the parade

Get myself to somewhere new & I’m by myself again.

I hear the ocean whispering to me

You’re so special but I’m so sorry

Find myself out holding hands by the levee

Extra special, anti-social

Categories: News


Music & Lyrics

Chapter 2

Sink your teeth into Kuwaisiana’s Chapter 2 release, a 5-track exploration of Khaleeji and Arab-American identity. Working in Arabic and English, Kuwaisiana is a full-bodied band producing a danceable, dynamic sound that draws on world music and indie rock. Led by Kuwaiti singer-songwriter +Aziz, the 6-piece blends funk, rock, ska with New Orleanian jazz, adding a unique twist to what Indie Arab Rock can sound like.

Born out of +Aziz’s desire to explore parallels between American and Khaleeji cultures, Chapter 2 is the band’s followup EP to Chapter 1, which was released through Universal Music MENA. This 22-minute EP deepens the band’s exploration of the day-to-day experiences of Arab-American youth and the evolving viewpoints of Khaleejis living in the Arabian Peninsula. It will be self-released on Bandcamp and then published to streaming platforms.

Lyrically, +Aziz explores the cultures he knows so well through his metaphor-rich lyrics, which sustain a tension between conversational and a more evocative, poetic perspective. Kuwaisiana is making progress at a time when so much of the world is in flux. Give the EP a listen!

Chapter 3

This EP was recorded at Marigny Studios in New Orleans (2021) right before +Aziz’s relocation The 25-minute EP presents a full-bodied sound, mixing funk, rock, ska with New Orleanian jazz, adding a unique twist to what Indie Arab Rock can sound like. As the pandemic wore us all down, the band leader relocated to Seattle to push forward with his vision.

Chapter 1

Kuwaisiana’s, Chapter 1, is an awesomely interesting release by an equally intriguing band from New Orleans with bridges to Kuwait who combine the vernacular of topics between there and the US southern region. They cross bread everything from Cajun to Pop music in their combination of styles that never leave out the two areas in which they’re grounded, yet they have a universal appeal in the process. Chapter 1 wins on that premise alone.” James McQuiston, Editor at NeuFutur

Drawing fitfully from their surrounds, the septet’s sonics are bolstered by bursts of brass and the lilt of (apparently synthesized) accordion, conjuring a rootsy, Cajun vibe around +Aziz’s raw, DIY-rock approach. At the best moments, a barn-storming, street-party abandon overcomes these slightly flat, self-produced recordings… But there is a potent spice found amid this audio stew. Split into two “sides” — the first in Arabic, the second English — the lyrics on “Chapter 1” carry subtle weight as a reflection on the modern Arab experience.” Martin Wingham, Arab News

Given the current banal state of popular music, an album and a band like Kuwaisiana are just the tonic that is needed… So here’s to Kuwaisiana for treading new ground and charting a new path. In a musical landscape that sometimes feels too cookie-cutter and too safe, Kuwaisiana are paving new ground, and hot damn, it is awe-inspiring.” Greg Robson, Step Inside This House