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Alif • Aynama-Rtama
Release Date: 04 Sep 2015 • Formats: CD, LP, Download • Cat No: NAWA003 • Label: Nawa Recordings
Alif is the collective sound of five musicians at the forefront of independent music in the Arab world. Conceived in 2012 and taking its name from the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, Alif features Khyam Allami (Oud), Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (Vocals/Buzuq), Bashar Farran (Bass), Maurice Louca (Keys/Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Drums/Percussion).
Their self-produced debut, Aynama-Rtama (Arabic - translated as Wherever It Falls) is a reflection of its time and environment. Recorded between Beirut in Cairo in 2014, it is a shape-shifting album that twists and turns when you least expect it. Innovative instrumentation, poignant words from avant-garde poets such as Sargon Boulos and Mahmoud Darwish, and the abstract worlds penned by the band’s vocalist Tamer Abu Ghazaleh coalesce to create an intense labyrinth of sounds and emotions. The startling synergy combined with the band’s wide ranging influences, giving birth to a soundscape that is at once familiar and unknown.
Mixed by Ali Chant of Toy Box Studios, Bristol, UK (P.J. Harvey, Rokia Traore, Yann Tierson, Gruff Rhys, John Parish) and mastered by John Dent of Loud Mastering, UK (Bob Marley, Nick Drake, Yann Tiersen, Massive Attack, Nick Cave), Aynama-Rtama traces a complex labyrinth of genres, sounds and emotions, rendered as a unique postcard of the tumultuous rollercoaster-ride of its time.
The album is adorned in artwork featuring a painting by Syrian-Lebanese visual artist Semaan Khawam. His colourful and surreal paintings combined with original typography by Egyptian designer Salma Shamel perfectly compliment the complexities latent in Alif’s music and lyrics. All editions will also feature new English translations of the poems and lyrics by Nariman Youssef.
Aynama-Rtama will be available on CD, black & limited edition red 12” Vinyl LP and download, including Mastered for iTunes and lossless high-definition 24-bit/96kHz audio files.
Album credits
Album cover artwork painting by Semaan Khawam: 'Don't Move, Stay With Us All Day' © 2014 Semaan Khawam
All music composed, arranged, performed and produced by Alif.
Holako (Hulagu) & Al-Juththa (The Corpse) are poems by Sargon Boulus
Dars Min Kama Sutra (Lesson from Kama Sutra) and Al-Khutba Al-Akhira (The Last Declamation) are poems by Mahmoud Darwish
I'tiraf (Confession) is a poem by Faiha Abdulhadi
Lyrics for Yalla Tnam (Lullaby), Watti Es-Sawt (Keep It Down) and Eish Jabkum Hon? (What Brings You Here?) by Tamer Abu Ghazaleh.
Mixed by Ali Chant, Toybox Studios, Bristol, UK.
Mastered by John Dent, LOUD Mastering, Taunton, UK.
Resonance/Dissonance
Release Date: 6 June 2011 • Formats: CD & DVD, Download • Cat No: NAWA001 • Label: Nawa Recordings
It’s not often that you stumble on a musician at the start of his career who’s biography is as intriguing as Khyam Allami’s. Since taking up the ‘ūd (or Oud, Middle Eastern Lute) in 2004, he has already generated a “palpable buzz” about him and “left a trail of unforgettable live performances in his wake” according to the UK’s fRoots Magazine who recently put him on their cover.
Whether at small independent venues, Birmingham’s alternative/experimental Supersonic festival, WOMAD or the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Khyam is yet to falter in making his audience revel in the lucid beauty of his music.
Born to Iraqi parents in Damascus, Syria and raised in London from the age of 9, Khyam could easily be seen as a musical schizophrenic. His passion for music has lead him on a journey from child violinist in Damascus via rock drummer in London to two Music degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and on to become a world class Oud player, composer and highly sensitive musician.
In 2010 Khyam was the first recipient of the BBC Radio3 World Routes Academy mentorship programme which saw him perform at WOMAD and the BBC Proms. After much press attention, high profile concerts and various live and recorded collaborations with artists varying from Seattle WA based Master Musicians of Bukkake to Iraqi pop singer Ilham al-Madfa'i, Khyam turned his attention to his own vision.
His debut solo ‘ūd album, Resonance/Dissonance (released on his own label Nawa Recordings), is a rare and ambitious effort. It is a double-disc featuring a solo studio recording on the CD and a live performance of the entire album (accompanied by percussionist Vasilis Sarikis) on the DVD.
Resonance/Dissonance is a complete work, a whole. Musically, it is based on the concept of Maqam (the modal system of Middle Eastern music), seemingly stark and simple yet overtly complex.
Unusual approaches to the Maqams combine with original, highly structured and detailed “composed-improvisations”. Recurring themes and melodic shapes render a cohesive narrative, accented by a sensitive dynamic and rhythmic outbursts using unusual rhythmic cycles. All of which intertwine around complete compositions and a dark rendition of the traditional Iraqi Maqam Nawa.
Conceptually, it is filtered through a life in London influenced by myriad figures; the work of C.G. Jung, the mysticism of Jorge Luis Borges, the independence and forward thinking of Frank Zappa, and Secret Chiefs 3, the ingenuity of various masters of Middle Eastern music such as Hossein Ali Zadeh, Naseer Shamma and Riyadh al-Sunbati.
Mystical in its lucidity and abstract in its poetry, Resonance/Dissonance is unique, soulful, beautiful, dark, heavy and hopeful all at once.
A truly boundary crossing musical work for fans of Middle Eastern, Classical, Progressive, Jazz, Improvised, World and Avant-garde.
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The Guardian
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The Wire
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Evening Standard
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Songlines