If you’ve ever had the pleasure to visit the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain and take a walk in its world-famous gardens, you might have taken note of the imposing image of The Infant’s Tower. With a typically medieval facade of flat stone walls and minute windows, this building has long been connected to the The Legend of the Rose, which is Washington Irving’s retelling of an oral tradition of three princesses, Zayda, Zorayda and Zorahayda, with the youngest of these three sisters dying in the tower, according to legend. This classically tragic figure is the inspiration behind international duo Racines’ new single ‘Zorahayda’, from their latest album, Arilos Mennar.

Like many women in history, whether real or fiction, Zorahayda’s story has been shaped by men. What the two artists behind Racines, namely London-based Indo-Italian-Welsh performer and producer Rokeya and Italian-Algerian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anissa, do with this single is switch off the male gaze. Instead of Zorahayda being a woman justly punished for falling in love with the wrong sort of person, she becomes a potent symbol of unresolved desire. Racines immerse listeners in those feelings of longing, wants and all-too-human urges with rich electronic production that brings together heady Maghrebi percussion, intricate Zambra Mora strings and deep, throaty vocals. By the end of this track, you can’t help but feel your heart beating faster, perhaps in tune with the spirit of Zorahayda herself.

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