Bassel Almadani’s musical journey began in Ohio, first on the violin in his hometown of Kent and later stepping into Columbus' indie folk scene as a student at Ohio State. It was in Chicago, however, that he honed the sound that defines Bassel & the Supernaturals.
The band combines a distinct soul and funk groove with vivid storytelling rooted in Almadani's experiences and identity.
"It was very much about just growing up and never being American enough, never being Syrian enough, just like existing in this weird space of things not feeling right, trying to find my footing. Struggling with relationships or struggling with the education system or getting out of the sort of corporate grind is a lot of what the music was about early on," he said in an interview wit WYSO music director Juliet Fromholt. "It wasn't until 2011 when things dramatically shifted in Syria, when Syria got roped into the Arab Spring, especially. That's when things really changed. And at first it was just about the things I would talk about between songs, or I'd get invited for speaking engagements, and I would just talk about my personal connection to it. And then it felt a little to me disconnected because the music was like, well, here's all this music about me, but I also care about this other thing. And so naturally, in the years following that, it always takes time from when you're writing to when you produce the music, you're putting the music out. So it was the next album, Elements, is when I first really started digging into story through the music."
As Bassel & the Supernaturals began to expand their musical and topical horizons, the way the band wrote songs together began to transform from to a more collaborative model.
"I'm not coming to the band anymore with like a full, here's the song. Learn your, you know, figure out your parts or something, you know, or writing the parts out for them," said Almadani. "I'll come in with a seed of an idea, be a verse and a chorus could be starting on guitar could be certain bass could be staring on drums, shifts around. But I have I have an idea for something I want to be able to tell. And that usually starts a really productive conversation. You know, where we talk more about that story, how we can connect it musically, certain ways we might reharmonize chords to bring out a certain texture in the music, certain colors that we wanna bring out."
Bassel & the Supernaturals will perform May 1 at Clark State Performing Art Center. For tickets and more information, click here.
