Naim Smaili: "They tell me: 'You are not Catalan, you are Moroccan'"

"The snail no longer sticks out its horn, it no longer climbs the mountain. The snail no longer brings wine and a Moroccan crushed it", sings a young man, inside a car while with other friends. "We are young Catalans with a reputation for being traffickers", he intones in another video. He is Naim Smaili, a young son of Moroccans who has accumulated millions of views on TikTok by covering Catalan children's songs and placing, with humor, anti-racist messages.

Is Naim SK a 'tiktoker' or a singer?

— I feel like someone who moves between doing comedy and being an artist.

A Moroccan crushed him. Why?

— Whenever certain news about a Moroccan comes out, their origin is specified and the idea was to make a bit of humor out of it. Take the racist touches and turn them around. And for the Moroccan to crush the snail. 

Why does it work?

— I think people are surprised by a Moroccan speaking Catalan.

But you are Catalan.

— Of course, but when they see a dark-skinned person or someone who looks Moroccan, they say things like they don't integrate, they don't speak the language, even if they were born here. 

Have you suffered it?

— Many times, and it still happens today, you see people coming towards you and changing sidewalks because they judge you at first glance. Recently there were many robberies in town, and they blamed my friends, the ones who make hearts behind the car in the videos I post on TikTok.

Are they your friends, the ones with hearts?

— My lifelong friends. We are all from Avinyó, from Manresa.

Where are your parents from?

— From a city near Nador. They came very young. First to Andalusia, where the eldest brother was born, and then to Catalonia, where the rest of us were born. There are four of us, all boys. 

What are parents doing?

— My father helps his sister-in-law at the bar we have in Santa Maria d’Oló, and my mother works cleaning and, besides that, she goes some days to work as a cook at a restaurant in the village.

How are they experiencing your success?

— Supercontents. I was the clown of the house and my mother had always encouraged me to do theater or something. But I told her I couldn't because I was embarrassed. With TikTok now it doesn't happen to me because I don't have the audience in front of me that can inhibit me.

— @naim.smaili The snail brings out wine, a Moroccan stepped on it🥲🤣🙁#catalunya #HUMOR #🇲🇦 ♬ sonido original - NAIM SK

You make versions of children's songs by changing the base. How did that occur to you?

— When we decided to sing in Catalan, we wanted to add a bit of humor. And children's songs sounded, with all due respect, boring to us, they were for children. And we thought we could change the rhythm and cover them, because it hadn't been done, especially by someone of Moroccan origin. 

Where did you learn them? 

— At school. I had a teacher who has always been my favorite, Fina, who is from the town. She taught me these songs since nursery school. And she is a very affectionate person, and over the years you see that something has stayed with us. 

What does Fina say today?

— I met her at school, because I went to see my brother's performance. She told me: "Keep doing what you're doing, it's very good". I got goosebumps because her eyes filled with tears, she was emotional.

Do you have good memories of school?

— Yes, although there were professors who treated you differently simply for being, in quotes, from somewhere else. But I've lived with that and managed it. 

I heard you say that your best friends are the sons of Moroccans.

— Yes, they are the ones I grew up with. 

And are there not also sons of Catalans?

— Look, I'll be clear. They've always separated us. At school, even, Moroccans against Catalans playing football. A child doesn't think so much if a person is black or brown, it's the same to them. Children are innocent, but there are things that come from home. And we've always separated ourselves into groups, we get along with everyone, but we already played separately when we were little. Or they made fun of me, for example, saying I didn't eat pork or that I wasn't from the group or that I didn't drink. 

Do you mean drinking alcohol?

— There are many Moroccans who drink alcohol, and I am no one to judge, even though I am Muslim. But I don't drink alcohol, it has never appealed to me, I don't find it fun. I know I can have a great time with a Red Bull. 

Do you think you experience racism because you are Moroccan or because you are Muslim?

— It may sound strange, but I've found that if a Muslim wants to eat pork and drink alcohol, they are treated better. Those who do not drink alcohol or eat pork for religious reasons are treated differently, no matter how good a person they are. And that is the problem. 

In a song you say: "We are young Catalans with a reputation as dealers".

— In Manresa we are a group of colleagues who like the world of cars and tuning. And when they see that some Moroccan is tuning his car, a beautiful car, they judge him immediately. And they say: "This one doesn't work and drives this BMW." And perhaps he is working twelve hours a day. 

What do you think of Aliança Catalana?

— I don't know what it's about or what it's for. I don't know about politics.

Does it worry you? Do you talk about it with friends?

— No, just as I am a good person, I speak Catalan perfectly and I grew up here, I think I am not the only one. My cousin has been in Catalonia for five years and speaks Catalan better than people who have been here for fifty. I don't get caught up in these matters.

Do you think it is important for the children of immigrants that there is a figure like Lamine Yamal, a Muslim Catalan?

— Not long ago I saw the story of their parents well. It is a difficult story, and that helps you to be a good person and be humble. I know where I am – and maybe it's not much – but I have to stay humble always. They have instilled it in us at home. It is important because if we, who have lived all this, do not give this message, who will? 

What is your relationship with Morocco?

— I have my family there and I feel a lot of love, it's where my parents come from, who have fought to give us a better life. I think my parents are one of the examples that exist here in Spain.

Rajoy said that France was playing without Frenchmen, because many players are from immigrant parents. Have you ever heard someone consider that you are not Catalan because your parents are from elsewhere? 

— Always. You are not Catalan. You may have been born here, you have adapted, but you are not Catalan, you are Moroccan. And I have nationality, if we go by the papers… besides, I believe that what is important is what the person feels, not what others say. 

And how do you feel?

— Me? Catalan. 

When you spoke of papers I thought of what it says on your ID cardqué pone en tu DNI.

— When the police stop us, many times the first thing they say is: take out your NIE.

And what do you tell them? That you have ID?

— I don't say anything. I speak to them in Catalan. I take out their ID, they look at it and that's it.

You said it very naturally: when the police stop us... Do they stop you much?

— I don't go out as much now, but before, when I used to go out at night with friends, if there was a checkpoint and we saw fifteen cars go by without being stopped, we behind them would say: "They're going to stop us." And they would stop us. They would search the entire car, but I never disrespected them. My brother is a police officer, I would never disrespect authority, honestly. I also have colleagues who are police officers and I know they are very good.

What did you feel when you went out on Cabró Rock in front of thirty thousand people?

— The best. I mean, I saw people singing the songs, shouting... You could hear them more than me. It was incredible. I'm fulfilling a dream. I also learned that if they are far away you can imagine they are ants. That's why I got more nervous at Canet Rock. 

Why?

— You could see the faces of the people, some who didn't know the songs, serious and thinking: "Who is this?" But it's about learning to do it, because if I want to dedicate myself to it, I have to learn and I will have to fight and lose my shame. 

Especially because you already have a concert at Apolo on March 27th.

— I didn't expect it at all, but now that we have it, we have to go all out, we have to fight for it.

If I tell you "dream collaboration", who would you like to collaborate with?

— It will sound heavy.

If we are to dream…

— Morad, for example, is a Spanish singer and I love, for example, the love songs he makes, these collaborations he does with French singers. And I would like, who knows, a mix in Catalan and Spanish with Morad. He could smash it.