It wouldn’t be at all hyperbolic to say that Zanib (pronounced Zay-nib) is a master of her craft. Her new EP, Desert Season, is testament to that, flaunting her skills as a vocalist, writer and producer. Released via Freedom Waves label, of which she is CEO, the four-track release is a confluence of R&B, soul and more than a dash of her Sudanese, Arab and Afro-Nubian heritage.
As a multilingual singer-songwriter, Zanib fully embraces her heritage and its signature sounds, though it's her soulful vocals are the essence of the EP’s first track, ‘Human Heart Desert’, which also shows off her skills as a violinist.
The rest of the EP pays homage to her Nubian heritage through the use of Arabic lyrics and Afro-Nubian sounds, which work in harmony with the soul, dancehall and even trap sounds, which can be heard in its most bombastic on the fourth and final track, ‘Catch Me If You Can’.
What the EP ultimately serves to do is represent Zanib, her life as a first generation American born to Sudanese parents and the dichotomies and fusions born out of being a third-culture kid. “This journey and adventure took me around the world and back to myself,” she says of the EP, which she dedicates to what she calls the “international women and men out there.”
