Lebanese Indie Music Label // Promoter & Distributor // Radio Show
Author: z.nawfal
ZIAD NAWFAL is a Beirut-based DJ, radio host, music promoter and producer, and the co-founder of ground-breaking independent label Ruptured with Lebanese studio owner and engineer Fadi Tabbal.
From 1992 to 2021, Nawfal relentlessly exposed Lebanon and the world to the special local and regional independent music talent, on his weekly radio shows ‘Ruptures’ and ‘Decalages’ broadcast on Radio Lebanon 96.2FM.
Between 2013 and 2021, he was also the managing director of Irtijal Festival, the first and foremost festival for experimental music in Lebanon.
Canadian indie label Constellation and Ma3azef resident Ziad Nawfal join forces to curate a 60mn mix of music based on and around Lebanese/Canadian duo Jerusalem In My Heart‘s album “Qalaq”, released in October 2021. Featuring several cuts from the album, as well as selected tracks from its outstanding list of contributors.
1. Jerusalem In My Heart – Abyad Barraq
2. Tim Hecker – Acephale
3. Le Révélateur (Roger Tellier-Craig & Sabrina Ratté) – Afterimage Selves
4. Pacha (Pierre-Guy Blanchard) – Ankara
5. Jerusalem In My Heart – Bein Ithnein
6. Moor Mother – Big Crime
7. Lucrecia Dalt – Disuelta
8. Body Meπa (Greg Fox / Sasha Frere-Jones / Melvin Gibbs / Grey McMurray) – Bullitt
9. Rabih Beaini – Light Within a Light
10. OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE – Out of Sight
11. “A” Trio (Mazen Kerbaj / Sharif Sehnaoui / Raed Yassin) – Over
12. Radwan Ghazi Moumneh – Qaluli (They Told Me)
13. Jerusalem In My Heart – Tanto
14. Alanis Obomsawin – Odana
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens, featuring music from Lebanon, Iran, Colombia, Canada, France, the USA and the UK. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
1. Jerusalem In My Heart – Abyad Barraq (feat. Greg Fox)
2. Pacha – Ankara
3. Saint Abdullah – As Gently as The Steps of Death (feat. Moor Mother)
4. Moor Mother – Big Crime
5. Jessica Moss – Distortion Harbour
6. Jerusalem In My Heart – Tanto (feat. Lucrecia Dalt)
7. Oiseaux-Tempête – Out of Sight
8. Frederic D. Oberland – À Notre Nuit
9. “A” Trio – Over
10. Saint Abdullah – The Birds Discuss the Journey (feat. John Butcher)
11. Jessica Moss – Distortion Harbour
Ziad Nawfal’s November 2021 mix for Radio Alhara in Bethlehem featured a guest takeover from Beacon Sound’s ANDREW NEERMAN:
“In anticipation of the release of Proof By Infinite Descent, Anthony Sahyoun’s debut album on Ruptured and Beacon Sound, I’ve taken over Ziad Nawfal’s hour on Radio Alhara today and assembled this unavoidably melancholic, yet occasionally buoyant, mix of friends and fellow travelers, as well as a few of my favorite tracks from the album. Hope you enjoy – Andrew”
1. Sary Moussa – In Praise Of Shadows
2. Massive Attack – Fatalism (Sakamoto/Takahashi Remix)
3. Anthony Sahyoun – The New World
4. Fadi Tabbal and Julia Sabra – Roots
5. William Basinski – O, My Daughter, O, My Sorrow
6. Burial – Endorphin
7. Fever Ray – Dry And Dusty
8. Tim Hecker – Castrati Stack
9. Aya Metwalli – Matkhafsh Menni
10. Muqata’a – Ma Wara’
11. Anthony Sahyoun – Jesuit Literature Drowning In The Mediterranean
12. Gabriel Saloman – Adhere Pt 3
13. Anthony Sahyoun – Irhamna (Amulets Remix)
14. Beacon Sound Choir – Fortunate Ones
RELEASING 19 NOVEMBER 2021 ON RUPTURED: First solo album by Lebanese musician Anthony Sahyoun, marking the launch of the ‘Corrosion Series’ by Ruptured Records in Beirut and Beacon Sound in Portland.
After making a name for himself over the last decade in Beirut’s vibrant contemporary music scene, Anthony Sahyoun unveils his solo debut, the evocative and atmospheric Proof By Infinite Descent. Using guitar, synthesizer and voice, Sahyoun tackles themes of mourning, accidental prophecy, and the new holy trinity of God, Capitalism, and Technology – all while mining the seams of experimental electronica and gravity-defying ambient music. Restless, haunting, at times breathtakingly beautiful, this is an album that seeks to rattle cages rather than soothe the comfortable.
Anthony Sahyoun co-founded instrumental rock outfit Kinematik in 2015, in the remote village of Reyfoun in the Lebanese mountains. To this day, the band has released three full-length albums entitled Ala’ (Ruptured, 2017), Murur Al-Kiram (Beacon Sound/Ruptured, 2020) and Al Jadi (Ruptured/Annihaya, 2021).
As a solo artist, Sahyoun works on electronic processing of acoustic elements, programming, drone and ambient music – his music has been described as “apocalyptic, rich and emotionally charged.” His first EP, Post Coital Tristesse, was released under the moniker Mme Chandelier by Ruptured in 2016.
Proof By Infinite Descent is the first installment in the “Corrosion Series”, a new project by longtime collaborators Ruptured and Beacon Sound that aims to showcase Beirut’s blast-resistant music scene, while building cultural connective tissue in a time of institutional corrosion.
To accompany the release of the album, Beacon Sound and Ruptured have commissioned two remixes of key album tracks, from Beirut-based producer Sary Moussa and Portland-based producer Amulets. Both remixes will be given away as bonus tracks with the purchase of the full album.
Available as a digital album and a limited edition transparent vinyl LP.
Ziad Nawfal’s November 2021 mix for Radio Ma3azef featured a guest takeover from Lebanese musician and producer ANTHONY SAHYOUN, on the occasion of the release of his solo album Proof by Infinite Descent:
“This mix acts as a sort of prologue to my album Proof by Infinite Descent’s release on the 19th of November. It’s basically a mash-up of the work I was involved in while the record was materializing. It has some tracks from the record, some live stuff some weird morphs, as well as some of the collaborative work that’s a big part of my life, specifically the collaborations I was working on during while producing Proof: Kinematik Ensemble – with Rudy Ghafari, Akram Hajj, Jad Atoui, Ziad Moukarzel and Teddy Tawil; NP – with Jad Atoui, May Berde – with Teddy Tawil; and a track by The Art of Boo, which I produced.
I firmly believe that collaborative work is the blueprint for my individual work, it only makes sense to have them here – Anthony”
1. gtrLE/slow
2. Khifat Al Atraf (with Firas Al Hallak)
3. Kinematik – Al Jadi
4. Wasted Efforts (with Julia Sabra)
5. harpHits2
6. NP – Iridescence
7. The Art of Boo – Promenade
8. gtrLE/moderate
9. Irhamna
10. LE.3
11. Requiem (morph mix)
12. Kinematik – 4th august 5:00pm part 2
13. Heritage
14. May Berde – 4b
15. grtLE/fast
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens, featuring music from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Indonesia. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
1. Melmo – After [LB] 2. Khaled Omran – Arak [SY] 3. The Butcher’s Bride (Liliane Chlela & Hamed Sinno) – Lipsync [LB] 4. Serge Yared – Deliberate Depression [LB] 5. Wanderland – December [LB] 6. Anthony Sahyoun – Irhamna (Premiere) [LB] 7. Senyawa – Kabau (1800s Internet Remix) [ID/JO] 8. Jaafar Touffar – Nitrate [LB] 9. Gurumiran – Man Who Sold Eldunya [LB] 10. Sandmoon – Angels [LB] 11. Postcards – Mother Tongue [LB] 12. Filter Happier – Radiobed [LB] 13. Sharif Sehnaoui – Thawra [LB] 14. Calamita – The Industry [LB/IT] 15. The Bunny Tylers – Mothers Make Murderers (Summer 91) [LB}
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens, featuring music from Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Iran and Germany. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
1. NP [Anthony Sahyoun & Jad Atoui] – Coins With Memory [LB] 2. Julmud – Fel Bo2s [PS] 3. FRKTL – Haruspex [EG] 4. Muqata’a – Ikmal [PS] 5. Abadir – IV [EG] 6. Rust – Mawali [LB] 7. Raed Yassin – The Cyber Oracle [LB] 8. Asifeh – Miqyas Kardashev [PS] 9. Liliane Chlela – Moukassarat [LB] 10. Stellar Banger – Put Your Medicine In Your Banana Bag [LB/DE] 11. Safa – 1000 Months [LB] 12. Aya Metwalli – Triangle [EG] 13. Kid Fourteen – Strangers Rule This World [LB] 14. Saint Abdullah – Of Us [IR]
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens – showcasing Lebanese digital electronic label VV-VA. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
1. Charbel Haber & Jawad Nawfal – Across The River Styx 2. Jad Atoui & Jawad Nawfal – Amber Color 3. Elyse Tabet & Jawad Nawfal – At The Gay Bar Being Gay 4. Sharif Sehnaoui & Jawad Nawfal – Castle 5. Jawad Nawfal – Between Scylla and Charybdis 6. Anthony Sahyoun & Jawad Nawfal – February 2 pt.2 7. Jawad Nawfal – Nine Hundred Chariots 8. Mazen El Sayed & Jawad Nawfal – Liquid Sun 9. Jad Atoui – Signals 10. Jad Atoui & Jawad Nawfal – Vice Versa 11. Mazen El Sayed & Jawad Nawfal – Pastless 12. Elyse Tabet & Jawad Nawfal – Courbe Lisse
Ruptured Music 