Paris based artist Yousra visited the WYSO studios for a performance on Kaleidoscope as part of her visit to southwest Ohio. She talked with music director Juliet Fromholt about discovering her love of folk music and her journey as a songwriter.
Growing up in Algeria, Yousra and her siblings knew that their father had been a musician but hadn't had the chance to hear him perform. Then one day her older brother brought home a guitar, and Yousra began singing with him while he played.
"The first two songs that I learned [were] 'Bring Me to Life' by Evanescence, and there was 'Angel From Montgomery' by John Prine," she said. "I was like seven years old, and I didn't speak any English. And [my brother] printed lyrics out for me, and he was like, 'can you learn these songs so that you can sing along while I play guitar? Because I need some vocals.' And I learned them, and that's how I started singing. And then around 2012, the same brother released a song, and I wanted to play it so bad. I was sick of being dependent on my brothers and, you know, having to ask them to play songs for me on guitar so that I could sing. So that was the first song that I learned on guitar, and since then I play guitar."
Yousra and her brothers were drawn to American folk music and used online lists to discover and learn to play songs from artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon.
"I think I never had the audacity to write a song in a serious way and, to just sit and think about it and try to put my emotions into words. It was just hard for me," Yousra said.
But the pandemic changed that. With little to do during lockdown besides work on her graduation project, Yousra began thinking deeply and writing songs of her own. Although she's written one song in her mother tongue, Yousra says she prefers to write and sing in English.
"When I sing in my, mother tongue, I'm really close to the feeling. When I sing in English, it's like there's a barrier between me and the feeling and it's like I don't completely lose myself in it."
Yousra's music is available on all streaming platforms. She'll perform September 13 as part of the Whispering Beard Folk Festival in North Bend, Ohio.
