Amanda Ekery ('16) always had questions about her family.

Ekery, a music major, was raised in El Paso by her mother, who was Mexican, and her father, who was Syrian.

"I was just curious. Why is there a sizable population of Arabs in El Paso? How did my family come to be here?"

Being a lifelong musician, she turned a 2018 genealogy project into a 12-track album, Árabe, released in 2025. Each song has an accompanying essay describing the inspiration behind it, collected in a 64-page book.

And that led to Ekery's first Grammy nomination this year for best album notes. Ekery, who plans to attend the Feb. 1 ceremony in Los Angeles, says she learned much about her heritage that she previously thought was an "odd combination."

"There's a whole wealth of community and knowledge and history that both Syrians and Mexicans share. There's over 4,000 words that are the same in Arabic and in Spanish. A lot of my trepidation about telling people I'm Mexican and Syrian growing up was because I didn't really know the history behind both, or how my family came to be there."

Making the Songs

Ekery always knew she had a unique place in El Paso.

"I think growing up, being at home, that's just what we were, you know? Like, you have kibbeh and grape leaves for Thanksgiving, and then you have tamales and menudo," she says. "This is what we are at home, but then going to school is when you realize, 'Oh, you're a little different.' I'm not great at Spanish, and so I feel like all the Mexican kids in my class were like, 'Well, you're not really Mexican.' I could cuss and order food, but I could not carry on a conversation."

So Ekery began digging into her background, receiving support from several grants. She worked with the libraries at University of Texas-El Paso and interviewed members of the Syrian American Ladies Club of El Paso. She conducted research during a two-month residency at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Those findings turned into songs and essays such as "Lucky," about all the gambling her grandparents took part in, with perspectives on the Syrian community in El Paso, and "To Give," about sharing food, especially among her family and other cultures.

The album includes a traditional Arabic song she found in her great-grandmother's collection called "What Do You Get?" and a twist on the classic Mexican tune, "La Cucaracha." 

The essays describe the thought process that went into the songs.

"The music was easier for me, just because that's what I do."

When it came to packaging the project, that took more research.

Working with art director Ross Wightman, they found a company in Mexico City that could publish the book and a Nashville company that made the vinyl record. Ekery even learned Adobe InDesign software to lay out the format.

"In February 2025, we sent off the final edits of everything, and we got chicken wings," she says. "It was like, 'We need to celebrate.'"

Sharing the Songs

The fun continued when she went on tour for the project's release in May 2025. 

She attended the New York Arab Festival, visited the Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso, getting involved in craft projects, readings and workshops. She performed at at Árabe Mahrajan, a community gathering sponsored by Arab.AMP in Oakland, California, to celebrate her album's release.

She also made a stop at UNT, where she made lifelong friends and honed her craft during her time here.

Ekery, who earned a master's degree from New England Conservatory in 2018 and spearheads the El Paso Jazz Girls project, currently teaches at the New School and Fordham University in New York City.

While at the kitchen table of her Brooklyn apartment in November, she scanned for the Grammy Award nominations.

"I was shocked. I checked three websites to make sure it was real."

Ekery is grateful for the nomination and those who helped her. She wrote thank-you notes to organizations that gave her grants, noting the prestigious honor.

"It feels really nice that it's not just mine to celebrate, it's everybody who's been a part of it," she says. "If this never happens to me again in my life, I will always be able to say that I'm a Grammy-nominated artist."

Grammy nominations from alumni:

• Lecrae ('02), best contemporary Christian music performance/song for "Headphones" and best contemporary Christian music album for Reconstruction

• Tito Charneco ('02, '13 M.M.), played tenor saxophone on The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico, nominated for best Latin jazz album