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When she was living in Morocco, Nora Toutain showed a great interest in music. She played the guitar and was a member of a choir. Living in a musical family, the Rabat-native was able to discover the world that would later be her own. On the phone with Yabiladi, Nora was happy to share her experience and tell the story of how she fell in love with singing, playing and writing music.
«I have always loved music but I never considered it as a career that I would go for, especially when studying at a French school in Morocco», she told Yabiladi. And just like every other high school student Nora thought that she would become a lawyer, engineer or doctor, jobs she called «classical».
The trip to India
However, a two-and-a-half-year trip to India has changed her mind and orientations. «I was born and raised in Rabat but when I was 13 years old I had to move with my family to India where we stayed until I was 16 years old», recalled the music undergraduate.
In India, Nora couldn’t join a French school and made her parents get her in a Canadian one. «I got there and immediately fell in love with the system», she stated, describing how enjoyable it was to study in an English-speaking school. However, when her father’s contract expired, Nora had to return to Morocco and hence get back to her previous school in Rabat.
«I loved the international experience of the school and the open mindednesstowardsthe arts, therefore when I went back to Morocco I promised myself that I would graduate high school and go abroad to study in an English-speaking university».
Falling in love with music
Indeed, with her baccalaureate in hand she went for Canada and applied to McGill University in Montreal where she studied science and environmental studies.
Once in Canada, Nora switched from science to music and her passion for art grew bigger. «The big turning point was when I discovered a collective of artists called the Kalmunity», she recalled saying : «Two of my friends came to see me and asked me to attend one of their performances (…) so, it was this collective of artists who improvise during their shows».
«It was a revelation for me, I fell in love with the concept and I felt that music and improvisation were speaking to me».
At the time, the 26-year-old singer and songwriter was still studying at McGill but that did not stop her from starting a musical career. «First thing I have done was to apply to the workshop, I started making friends in the musical field, I just realized that it was actually something that I loved», she explained to Yabiladi.
The music school
When she graduated from McGill, Nora applied to the Faculté de Musique in Montreal where she started studying Jazz Vocal Performance. «I am mostly studying music theory, the knowledge of harmony, and solfège», said Nora adding that «reading and writing music as well as understanding harmonic movement and also voice techniques is basically what I am working on».
After performing in several cities in Canada, Nora joined the group that encouraged her to study music years ago. Now she is a member of Kalmunity and she often plays music with them. Nora is also graduating in May and she is preparing for her final recital. «I am having a final recital which concludes my journey in school and it is going to be a one-hour-long show», she indicated.
Excited about her graduation, the young artist is also working on her first album. «My goal is to finish my EP, which is a smaller version of an album that would contain five songs», added Nora who is «in the writing at the moment and would start the recording phase with the band once done with school».
«I applied for a grant, which is a financial support that artists ask for to help produce their albums and I hope it would help me realize my dream», concluded Nora Toutain.
From Rabat to India and Canada, the young girl fascinated by Jazz, R&B and Soul music is determined to lead a successful career sharing her writings and love for music.
