The Palestinian Canadian singer-songwriter closed out her first North American tour with a bang.
Following the release of her full-length debut album Verbathim last fall, Nemah Hassan, who releases music under the moniker Nemahsis, has mapped out a brief winter North American tour. The Palestinian-Canadian artist returned to Montreal on Friday, February 21st, after a pair of hometown shows in Toronto, this time playing to a sold-out crowd at Club Soda.
The venue quickly filled with an enthusiastic crowd on the cold Friday evening, just in time for Toronto-based indie artist Seago and pianist Harper, who served as the opener for Nemahsis’ last few shows. The crowd managed to maintain energy from his alluring performance as they waited in anticipation. Many of the attendees proudly dawned their Keffiyehs and held Palestinian flags in solidarity.
Nemahsis kicked things off with “eleven acres” EP favourites, “i wanna be your right hand,” and “i’m not gonna kill you,” before performing “you wore it better,” as the crowd repeated every lyric back to her. Despite battling the flu, the singer took the stage alongside her three-piece band with command, hitting those high notes, never missing a single key. She even incorporated a brief, yet impressive rendition of Led Zeppellin’s “Immigrant Song,” before introducing with “immigrant’s tale.”
It wouldn’t be far off to describe a Nemahsis show as a music and comedy event as she cracked so many jokes in between performing and interacting with the lively audience. Her impeccable timing makes it all worthwhile as well. She even took the time to share some details about her journey into creating Verbathim after being wrongfully dropped by her label for simply existing as a Palestinian. Nevertheless, Nemahsis never failed to express the importance of remaining resilient, while expressing nothing but gratitude for the genuine community she has managed to cultivate through her music.
Nemahsis saved “stick of gum,” the song that kicked off her triumphant journey for last, performing a joyous rendition that raised the energy of the room to a whole new level. It was only fair to run it back for the encore, this time with a little help from Seago and Harper. Nemahsis managed to gather Palestinians, Muslims, allys, and everyone in between for a beautiful night of music.
The Setlist for Nemahsis’ Montreal show:
- “i wanna be your right hand”
- “i’m not gonna kill you”
- “you wore it better”
- “immigrant’s tale”
- “old body, new mind”
- “delusion”
- “furniture killer”
- “coloured concrete”
- “spinning plates”
- “what if i took it off for you?”
- “dead giveaway
- “chemical mark”
- “stick of gum”
- Encore: “stick of gum” (with Seago and Harper)
FOR THE RECORD 