Singer-songwriter Nano Raies presents an evening of songs inspired by many cultures and languages, with pianist Jemima.

Nano Raies is a Syrian American singer-songwriter and actress originally from Homs, Syria. She fled the war in Syria and came to the US to pursue her passion in music, becoming the first Syrian woman to attend and graduate from Berklee College of Music. Nano sings in multiple languages like Arabic, English, French, and Portuguese, and her music style is a fusion of pop, Middle Eastern Arabic, western classical, gypsy jazz, Latin, and Brazilian.

Her latest projects include a cover song of “The Prayer” by David Foster, where she wrote Arabic lyrics to honor the tenth year anniversary of the Syrian war. She also re-wrote the famous "Bella Ciao" song in Arabic for the Lebanese revolution and other countries that are going through a revolution. Nano's rendition of "Bella Ciao," titled "Thawret Shaab," became the anthem for the recent Iraqi revolution. Before that she re-wrote the Beatles’ song “Drive My Car” in Arabic in honor of Saudi women gaining the right to drive. In connection with releasing the Arabic "Drive My Car," Nano was interviewed by a number of international news outlets, such as CNN & Al-Arabiya. Nano has also had the honor of sharing the stage with major artists such as the maestro Simon Shaheen and the world renowned band Pink Martini. Other appearances include the World Bank's first musical performance at the opening of the Security-Development Nexus 2018 Spring Meeting, where she emerged among kings and queens singing, speaking to their hearts rather their minds, and a performance at UNICEF in September of 2019 in support of a case filed on behalf of 16 youth, including Greta Thunberg, against five countries for their involvement in perpetuating the climate crisis. nanoraies.com

Jemina is a composer, pianist, vocalist and producer based in New York City. She is a Berklee College of Music alumni where she entered with a Presidential Scholarship to pursue studies in Piano Performance.

​Jemina was born and raised in Europe, in a Franco-Algerian family and moved the the US in 2017; having been exposed from a young age to multiple cultures and music, it is no surprise that Jemina’s compositions can be described as cross-cultural or multi-cultural, creating a music at the intersection of classical, jazz, electronic, avant-garde, North African folklore, and more.

This event is generously underwritten by Alexander Sanger in honor of Jeannette Watson Sanger.

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