MUMBAI: It would be quite a futile exercise to pin down the Lebanese French duo ILHAAM Project under one genre. Unless, of course, if there exists a genre called ‘strangely poetic drawing global influences’. In its six years of existence, survival and gradual emergence, the friendship that began as a ‘mystical accident’ features a lot of similar ‘mystical’ stories. The guitarist and vocalist Nina Nassif, daughter of a Lebanese refugee, met Omri Swafield, the son of Israeli soldier that invaded Nassif’s Lebanese town, thirty years after the incident, and the rest is history. The latest positively encouraging ILHAAM story arrives through an unlikely medium of social media – a Facebook message.

ILHAAM Project featuring Franco Lebanese vocalist and songwriter Nina Nassif and Israeli percussionist Omra Swafield is a four-album old sonic amalgamation of influences drawn from several cultures across the globe. And the duo will make its first appearance in India for a seven-city tour that begins at a festival – New Wave Asia - that has more often than not introduced Indian audience to niche sounds and underground acts from around the world. ILHAAM Project will be the only international headlining act of the third edition of the traveling music festival. Nina Nassif and Omra Swafiled led project will follow the Delhi performance with shows in Pondicherry, Auroville, Coorg, Kannur and Goa (in 2017). The band spoke to Radioandmusic.com exclusively regarding the upcoming tour, its journey, the hardships and the evolution of the band.   

How did the India tour come into being? Before this, did either (or both) of you ever come down to India for personal (or other) reasons?

Omri Swafield: Actually, it's a funny story.

It all started by a message we received via Facebook from a man named Abil Asok, saying: ‘I Love your music, when will you come to India?’ Since the past few years, we have received such messages, which we learnt to not take too seriously. But this time, Nina looked at the Facebook wall of Abil, and saw a photo of him playing drums on a big stage.

She told him: ‘Wow, you also play, maybe you can help us organise concerts?’ He agreed and gave us the contact of Preetham Rao, his tour manager. Very quickly, we got along and became friends with Preetham, and he managed to organise a wonderful tour, despite geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers. We would like to take this opportunity and say a big thank you to Preetham.

For Nina, it's the first time coming to India. Omri has been to India before for 3 months, between Auroville, Thiruvanamali and Varanasi. In that visit, Omri discovered the Indian Harmonium which he took back to France, and incorporated into the ILHAAM sound.

There's a lot of influence of sounds from around the world, including India (for example - Eastern Winds). Do you consciously explore a culture or wait for the culture to come to you to expand on your sounds and the band's essence?

Nina Nassif: Good question. We are not musical "scholars". Our way of being and composing is very intuitive and instinctive. For example, when we created the track ‘Eastern Winds’, we didn't sit together and say: “Let's make a Indian/Balkan/electro style song". Omri came back with his Indian Harmonium from India, after studying Indian classical singing in Varanasi.

And I had come back from Budapest, where I received some Balkan tunes. When we both met, we just jammed, and it came out very similar to how it sounds. So the main tune of this song is actually very similar to a traditional Hungarian song, combined with a Harmonium and deep bass electronica.

You're known to be spontaneously adaptive during the live shows, inviting people on stage and what not! What have you planned for the India tour so that the fans get a better idea of what to expect?

Omri: We don't really know what to expect from ourselves. We enjoy making the people participate with us, Nina likes getting into the crowd to connect with the people. When we are in the right mood we could just improvise and create a new song on stage. Who knows what meeting with the Indian crowd will get us to do?

Would you agree to my observation when I say the last record 'Infinity - Rising - Sun' was more vocal depended than previous albums. Is this where we can expect ILHAAM Project now heading to, in terms of its sonic outcome?

ILHAAM Project: Yes, we agree, it was the intention. We have many possible directions for the future. Seems like the next release will be more 'Pop' or 'vocal oriented', like you say it. But, we were thinking of taking the world/trip-hop thing further, probably, going into trance like experiences.

'Nothing is certain. As we mentioned before, our way of creating is intuitive, so we cannot know in advance what will come out next.'

Would you say ILHAAM Project is an experience felt much better when seen live than heard on Bandcamp and other audio outlets?

ILHAAM Project: Oh for sure! The recordings try to convey a certain vibration which is there on stage. Some recordings manage to get closer, others less. But the origin is on stage for sure.

How has touring around the globe changed you as people? Not your music, but you two as individual human beings?

ILHAAM Project: We can say the ability to adapt to different situations quickly, and the ability to connect to people and make new friends easily. Also, we learn to let go and say goodbye when the time comes. And, to not panic and look for solutions if things go terribly wrong.

What is one advice you would want to give to THAT kid who's thinking on quitting music because the commercial society would not approve of his/her niche sound?

ILHAAM Project: Keep on keeping on. Believe in yourself. Trust no one to make your dreams come true, only trust yourself. Be a master of your life and not a victim. Be yourself, with all your originality, your madness. No matter what you do, if YOU believe in you, everyone else will. If you don't, no one will. Don't try to please anyone but yourself.

'And go all the way through with your vision, for as long as it takes, even if it breaks every last shred of hope within you, you must always continue. Never give up.'

You have chosen an interesting set of places to perform at during India tour. How did the India tour come into being?

ILHAAM Project: It wasn't really our choice. It's just where we were invited to play. The tour was concocted by Preetham Rao and Cathy Doumoux and takes into consideration many elements: budget, distances and time. When we hear the call to come play somewhere, we follow. More or less, like superman. 

Do you think ILHAAM Project would, one day, extend beyond a two-piece act? More musicians to join the act permanently?

ILHAAM Project: Actually we are three most of the time in France, with our beloved sound engineer Patrick Buret. We have been more at certain moments. But when we moved on traveling, we left behind some musicians. For the future, it is a possibility, though the essence will remain us both. We were thinking of a rhythm master. But the person who joins us has to be very special, if not he won't have an easy time to blend into our unique relationship which we created since 9 years now.

 How would you summarise ILHAAM Project so far?

ILHAAM Project: That's a big question. A mystical accident giving birth to beauty and light; many adventures, hardships and challenges on the road. A deep friendship beyond any definition or comprehension of society and a constant evolution to grow and become better, is how we would summarise it.

'A test of faith jumping into the void and giving in to the unexpected - it's the story of our lives.'

What are some of the most memorable feedbacks/responses you have received as musicians? Gestures that kept you motivated.

ILHAAM Project: There was this one guy, who saw us in concert, and decided to completely change his life, he left university and started following his real dreams. In 2013, we were invited to play In Venezuela, for a group of lovely pure hearted people. It was a beautiful adventure. And last, but not the least, being invited to India.

What can we expect from ILHAAM Project in 2017?

ILHAAM Project: We will soon release two new video clips. We continue promoting our latest EP ‘Infinity-Rising-Sun’ while taking time to create the following release, and also to fine tune our live set. There are talks of us signing with a very good person as our producer.

It only sounds romantic that music or art has the power to solve everything. History suggests that has not been the case, sadly. Where do you stand in this debate?

ILHAAM Project: We would add to this complex debate an even bigger contrast between us. Music in itself cannot change the world. But a great human being like Gandhi, John Lennon or Michael Jackson can stand on stage and inspire so many others to overcome their petty little fears and become the greatest shining stars they truly are.

'We cannot give more than we have, we cannot pretend to be more than what we are. Our only responsibility is to be the best we can, and share it with the world. So the best thing we can give to people is not preach to them what they should do and what is wrong with the world, but to be the change we would like to see in the world, like a great man once said.'