Tamer Nafar is a musician, actor, screen-writer, and social activist. Nafar grew up in Lyd a mixed city of Palestinians and Jews 20 minutes from Tel Aviv, home to one of the largest drug markets in the Middle East. As a teenager, Tamer discovered hip-hop and became the world’s first Palestinian rapper. His lyrics and activities reflect the Palestinian struggle, women’s rights, and the promotion of alternative art within a conservative society.
In 2000, Tamer formed the first Palestinian hip-hop group DAM, along with his brother Suhell Nafar and friend Mahmood Jrere. One of their first singles “Min Irhabi” (Who's the Terrorist) was downloaded over a million times, making DAM a household name among youth throughout the Middle East. Rolling Stone in France distributed the song within one of their issues, and the track has been featured on various compilations. The French paper Le Monde called DAM “the spokesman of a new generation”.
Tamer has also used music and art as a tool for social activism. In 2004, DAM released the single Born Here, followed by a major campaign launched by Nafar to bring awareness to the disparity of Arab communities within Israel. The campaign received impressive media attention and eventually prompted increased investment by the municipality for the Arab sector of Lyd. In 2013, Tamer directed the photography campaign Room No 4 to protest child arrests in East Jerusalem, and in 2014 DAM released the video Who Are You directed by Oscar nominated Palestinian filmmaker Scandar Copti. The video was accompanied by a viral social media campaign for women’s rights in the Arab world. More recently, DAM's music was featured in the first ever Palestinian-American TV series, the Netflix hit Mo, by Mo Amer. Tamer starred in the feature film “Junction 48” directed by Udi Aloni and written by Nafar and Oren Moverman. The film won the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival and Best International Film in Tribeca and will be released in theatres in the US and Europe in 2017. In 2022 he played the role of Khaled in the Comedy “Hummos Full Trailer” one of the most successful movies in Israeli theatre for 2022. Today Tamer is acting in the new theatre play “How to make a Revolution” by Einat Weizman, playing the lead role of nonviolence leader Issa Amro. In 2023 Tamer signed with Ha Aret’z newspaper to write a weekly opinion articles. He recently signed a deal with RoboMagic’s Management and Empire for a new English EP “In the name of the Father, the Imam & John Lennon”. 2 singles were dropped :“The Beat Never Goes Off” ft MC Abdul & Noel Kharman ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kJl_pEhvxM ) & “Arabs Say KHOD” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3LBUiStQ0 ). The full EP will launch in Summer 2024.
Tamer’s last release single “Tuzz Tuzzen (Whatever)” was released during May 2024 produced by his brother Djamil.
His work with DAM still continues as they signed with F-Cat’s booking agency for tours around the world & their hit song “Emta Njwazek Yamma” was the main trailer for the hit show “Mo” in Netflix and created a remix single with Brother Ali & Brian Eno for the last episode
In 2024-2025 the documentary “The Smugglers” will be released with Tamer’s full soundtrack
