OUTSIDERS TALES VOL I by Tarik Rahim

Unsure where this journey begins or where it is heading please be welcome to the Narval Outsiders Tales VOL I. As you may know my name is Tarik Rahim, originally from Spain but with lebanese/ brazilian roots. Apparently ¨Tarik¨ means ¨the path¨ and ¨Rahim¨ means ¨merciful¨ but I am still trying to make sense of that one to be honest. My dad makes boards. My mum cleans hotels. My sister is a lawyer. I do get waves and I do make music but also everything in between to keep doing those two.

3 years a go I moved away from familiar European costal towns to the unknown shores of New Zealand(preferably know as Aotearoa), off to Australia and then back to Aotearoa in March this year. 

Since then, the number of good waves I have ridden has gladly increased, the quantity of music and gigs I have done has grown considerably, but on top of everything the amount of inspiring, caring, weird, funny, unforgettable, totally forgettable, talented, anxious, heavenly mad or sane people that I have met through my moves have significantly risen. All of which, forging me into a slightly different person and constantly changing my vision on things, as I never stop piling up memories that move me like a ranging rambling train wherever I end up landing at. 

Quiet a few experiences were built these last years; from becoming an uncle to my nephew Koa Rahim to fast cinematic drives through Ozzie bush roads to Soldiers Beach chasing waves with Robbie Pugh, from breaking my ribs while surfing deserted Raupuke Beach in Raglan coast to perform on a packed show in Minerva Art Gallery, Sydney with my sonic brother Mo Aung; from running out of gas faraway from civilisation in rural Kati-Kati during a music tour to scoring lonely world class waves with my friend Skip James in the coastline of Koikoura; from getting lost jamming music with talented pianist Rachel Jenkins to being part of electronic underground music raves under Stockton bridge in Newcastle here’s a brief summary of how my last few months have been. 

After my visa expired in Australia in March I moved back to Mount Maunganui, a small costal town on the east coast of the north island(yes, New Zealand consists in two islands for those who might not know like me when I arrived) where I knew a few people. I initially came back with a verbal agreement of a work visa that end up being a false promise, unfortunately business do that a lot to migrants to take advantage of their situations. My parents had experienced the same thing back in the day too so I just moved on being able to get other random jobs as a barista and a bit of freelance graphic design work. 

Dealing with visas is real annoying but totally worth it in this case as I have never ridden so many fun waves in a row; Koikoura, Lyall Bay, Titahi Bay, West End, Matakana Island, Omanu Beach, Arataki, Manu Bay, Outsides, Whanga Bar, Whakatane Heads, Tairua, Sailors Grave….There was something about this specific season that it was just switched on, water was not that cold, waves uncrowded and at the same time I was able to play a few gigs in New Zealand(including renowned fun surf festival The Single Fin Mingle) thanks to stylish comrade Skip James, who’s kindness to host me, get me gigs and show me around waves and parties goes beyond words. At that same time I reconnected with Japanese pro surfer Hinako Kurokawa and came across young kiwi water photographer Olivia Lee who was keen to document quiet a few of those surf sessions being able to freeze up some memorable trips (A Japanese, a kiwi and a spaniard…sounds like the start of a joke aye) 

Even though I was not gonna be able to stay too long in New Zealand things were falling in place in strange ways so I decided to maintain it. I tried to get more performances booked, I emailed a bunch of people, waited, had no answer, emailed more people, did some more reach out and once again things worked. After performing around Australia with DOMUS, (an improvisational music duo project I run along Mo Aung) we putted together little tour in NZ as well thanks to Jeff Henderson and Tom Lambert, which was quiet unreal to be able to bring my dear friend Mo for the first time to Aotearoa to make music. 

For some reason this type of things gave a purpose to the constantly-movingnonsense- visa situation and a gave me a mild level of satisfaction, just like my life in Australia was crossing paths with the one in New Zealand. These happening were proving things are not always left in the past once you’ve experienced them. Despite having to leave memories behind all these were not isolated events in my pathway but interconnected pieces of a much larger puzzle, or that’s how it felt anyway now that I have to move on countries again, which it all inspired my upcoming new album too, LIMBO27, recorded in a year on Australia and releasing the 4th of November. 

I have no idea where I´ll be next, perhaps Portugal, Japan or Sr Lanka which is kinda scary but exciting; challenging but restoring; different paths on hold for me to decide. But amongst the upcoming changes the idea of having surf, music and friends who understand those mediums as an outlet and expression of my inner personal states is quite comforting which is the main reason why I ´m writing this so I hope that will not change. 

I also don’t get to write much for these kinda of things so just wanted to thank a bunch of people who helped maintaining things in order around me these last few months: Gabriel, Theresa, Cesar, Skip, Eddie, Jorge, Robbie, Will, Daniel, Rachel, Gheese, Rachel, Lex, Adam, Pablo, Juan, Milena, Kate, Cami, Chris, Scott, Hinako, Ella, Javier, Frisco, Tamiris, Joel, Tania, Hiucif and Koa. Thanks for reading, I´ll see you somewhere at somepoint in sometime, 

 

XX 

 

TR