At the Sept. 12 premiere screening of the new Mahershala Ali action thriller, “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” at the Toronto International Film Festival, writer-director Bassam Tariq gave generous thanks to some of the cast and crew members who brought life to his tale of a recently widowed Muslim hitman in Houston on a precarious mission to secure breast milk for his infant daughter.
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who → give → daughter
Among those Tariq acknowledged was Toronto’s own Mah Moud, whose ethereal vocals are the first thing you hear in the film.
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you → acknowledge → film
After debuting in 2018 with the EP “Maba,” the Eritrean singer-songwriter has since brought his signature blend of alternative folk — touching on themes of family, politics, diaspora and identity — to stages across the city, including opening for Mustafa at Roy Thomson Hall in 2024 and headlining TD Music Hall last year.
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songwriter → debut → Hall
“I really wanted to make (Bassam) proud,” he said of the filmmaker, whom he connected with through a mutual friend years ago, “and that comes with pressure.
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that → want → pressure
But when it comes to the score’s composition, Mah Moud gives all praise to New York-based experimental rock trio Son Lux.
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Moud → come → Lux
“Son Lux are the genius behind the score,” he said.
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he → say → score
“They found a world that I think Bassam was truly looking for.”
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Bassam → find → world
The group, which earned an Oscar nomination for composing the music for 2023’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” was one of the first collaborators signed onto the project.
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which → earn → project
“Bassam reached out to us very early in the process,” said Son Lux’s Ryan Lott.
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Lott → reach → process
I think he knew that music would be a really important part.”
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music → think → ?
With Tariq’s guidance, they took inspiration from multiple sources, including the otherworldly soundscapes of Shabazz Palaces, Houston hip-hop royalty DJ Screw and meditative and warriorlike Chechen chants.
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they → take → Palaces
But their most important task was capturing the mystery of the divine, a crucial theme in the movie.
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task → capture → movie
“That’s something that resonates with something that I’ve encountered in Islam,” said Son Lux member Rafiq Bhatia, “this idea of the struggle to communicate as an expression of divinity, because it’s the unfathomable or the unknowable — this sense that there’s more there than we could possibly say.
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we → ’ → divinity
“In that negative space, that’s what contains the divine,” he continued.
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he → ’ → divine
“So we were really exploring a lot of sounds that had that feeling.”
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that → explore → feeling
To capture this mystery, the band knew this had to be a vocal-heavy score, and even tried to incorporate all of their own voices for the first time.
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this → capture → time
But something was missing.
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something → miss → ?
“There were just certain things where it didn’t feel like the texture of just our voices felt totally right, and I think Mah Moud was someone who really brought a lot of (texture),” said Son Lux drummer Ian Chang.
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Chang → be → texture
Thus, Mah Moud and a choir were called on to add their voices, bringing a depth of feeling to some scenes while punctuating others.
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Moud → call → others
One unique thing that Mah Moud was able to lend to the score was what the artist calls “the Muslim voice.”
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artist → lend → what
“I think a lot of people can traditionally match Christianity with gospel or various different religions with the sound,” Mah Moud said.
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Moud → think → sound
It’s just wanting to pursue a relationship with God through whatever it is that you’re doing … and that’s not a task taken lightly by Bassam in the slightest.”
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that → want → slightest
After setting his intentions, Mah Moud did his best to capture that, under the direction of Son Lux.
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Moud → set → Lux
“I had the ultimate trust in them,” he said, “and they had the trust in my voice, like Bassam did, and so it felt really connected.”
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it → have → voice
His voice appears during many scenes: among them, when Ali’s character, Latif, is remembering his wife as another woman nurses his infant daughter, and during the final fight sequence in which he lets out some big screams.
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he → appear → screams
Taking pride in his work
Despite only being a contributing artist on the film, Mah Moud is pleased with his role in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.”
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Moud → take → Mother
“To be such a tiny part of something so huge still comes with a huge amount of pride, and I can’t wait for people to see the film,” he said.
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he → come → film
“I can’t wait for the conversations around the film.”
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I → wait → film
What impressed him the most about the film is the spectrum of the Muslim experience shown between otherwise action-packed scenes, the “everyday normalcy” that’s often missing in depictions of Islam in pop culture.
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that → impress → culture
“I think it’s really important for us as artists to go beyond our optical existence in this world,” Mah Moud said.
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Moud → think → world
“What I mean by that is, often people look at an artist and they go, ‘Oh, capital-M Muslim, capital-B Black.’
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they → mean → artist
So I was really impressed by how, yes, this was a Muslim film, but it didn’t rely on that.
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it → impress → that
“It didn’t rely on the director being Muslim,” he continued.
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he → rely → ?
“It didn’t rely on the characters being Muslim.
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characters → rely → ?
I think we often fall back on our identities to try and deliver messaging on our behalf, and we fall short as artists because of it.
“
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we → think → it
But this film had such a wholeness as a piece of artistry and as a piece of religion.”
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film → have → religion
Why he loves Toronto
As a Toronto artist, Mah Moud loves the city but not necessarily because of its art.
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Moud → love → art
“I love Toronto for its ordinary people and its ordinariness,” he said.
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he → love → people
“And I love being from here.
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I → love → ?
I love the things that work and don’t work about this place.
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that → love → place
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
