Following a very sunny extended residency with Rust, we welcomed Moroccan singer/songwriter Meryem Aboulouafa to Bern for a winter edition of the B&B x Prozess Residencies during the month of November 2022.
After the success of her debut album, Meryem wanted to make use of her time in Switzerland to work on some unfinished songs from her second album, which she plans to release independently, in addition to composing new, “happier” tracks.
Coming from Morocco with a very precise to-do list focused around making music, she realized that there were a lot of opportunities to take advantage of in Switzerland, including networking and attending local concerts for inspiration, which shifted her work plan.
She got exposed to more abstract/contemporary music during her travels to Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey, Zurich, Lucerne and Zoug, which opened her eyes, as she started drawing inspiration from observing the differences and similarities between her comfort zone and her new entourage.
Meryem@Prozess_foto_J.Parry-05
B&B x Prozess Residencies: Meryem Aboulouafa
Pictures by Jacelyn Parry
Lucerne and Zoug, which opened her eyes, as she started drawing inspiration from observing the differences and similarities between her comfort zone and her new entourage.
The networking she managed to do put her on the map of Jerome Ellis Angel Bat Dawid, Loten Namling, Billie Bird, Athina Dill, and David Koch; in addition to Eleonora Stassi with whom she had a 2-hour jam session in Zurich and a 5-hour one in Bern. Together, they added some violin and viola to one of the songs from the upcoming album.
Getting back to the studio, Meryem had a lot to digest and new ideas to help her restructure the album and her identity as an artist in general. She ended up writing two new songs from scratch and re-recording two songs she had worked on for the new album, with a new vision in mind.
