Back in Beirut, Ziad Nawfal will be joining Hatem Imam, Charbel Haber, Miriam Sakr and junior at Metro al Madina on Saturday 15 August 2026 for Domestic Audio Systems.
The five will play mostly vinyl sets drawn from their personal collections: records they have lived with, returned to, and still want to hear played loud in a room with other people.
For Ziad, the evening is an opportunity to dig a little deeper into his own collection and play music that doesn’t often find its way into his regular DJ sets.
Saturday 15 August 2026 Metro al Madina, Beirut Doors 9:30 PM Music 10 PM – 4 AM
On Ghadr, Sandy Chamoun, Anthony Sahyoun and Jad Atoui play with chaos. Built on group improvisation, surges of coruscating electronics and distortion meld with vocals that, while stemming from a background in classical Arabic singing, seek to reroute tradition. “We explore rhythmic structures that don’t have specific time signatures,” says Atoui about his and Sahyoun’s use of synthesis to embrace the tension between order and chaos. “Sandy’s approach to singing isn’t necessarily very rigid either. We felt a common inspiration.”
The album, whose title imperfectly translates to ‘Treachery’, began on a residency in Switzerland while the trio were touring Europe (Chamoun solo, Atoui and Sahyoun as their duo NP). It was later finished in their home city of Beirut. The five tracks are built on vibrant circuits of guitar and modular synthesis, the former often acting as a trigger for the latter’s volatile output.
Chamoun’s vocals blend her background in classical Arabic music with free-singing, using tradition as a foundation for exploration rather than standards to follow. Apart from “Hayawanon Ghader (treacherous animal)”, all the songs’ lyrics pull from the archive. Opener “Tahal Layl” interprets a Bedouin folk song. “Bihali” is based on a tenth century poem by Abou Firas Al-Hamdani. “Al Moulatham” quotes an Instagram post by Yousef Al-Domouky about the war in Gaza. “Al Samaa” uses a text from contemporary Lebanese poet Paul Chaoul. “I’m working with my references, and with the music,” explains Chamoun. “It’s a playful place with my history and now.”
WATCH a video excerpt by Nour Ouayda
About the album’s title, Chamoun explains: “On this planet, the only thing that’s happening now is treachery. It’s the headline of our days.” Terror in Gaza, its shockwaves through the Middle-East and its place in longer histories loom over the record. However, while Ghadr reflects the present moment, it isn’t consumed by it. The trio agree the album reflects tenderness as much as anger. It’s audible in the effortless swings between abstract and soaring. The way Chamoun’s lyrics put ninth century odes to a bird and ancient Bedouin love songs next to personal reflections by Al-Domouky or Chaoul on real world tragedies.
Sonically and lyrically Ghadr is music of possibility and potential. The five tracks travel through unbounded terrain rather than along fixed paths. “I don’t like to pull the listener in one direction,” Chamoun continues. “You need to play with your imagination and not stick to one story and one meaning.” While the record reflects their state of mind as residents of Lebanon, and the uncertainty that entails, Sahyoun suggests they’re striving to reach beyond it. “We try to access parts of our subconscious and see what dimensions it has outside of what we’re witnessing day to day. When we play, there’s a rhythm between the three of us. We feel each other sway,”
Ghadr is the first release under the name Chamoun/Sahyoun/Atoui, but the trio’s connection is deeply rooted. Sahyoun and Chamoun are members of ecstatic rock collective Sanam. Atoui and Sahyoun’s explorations of synthesis, solo and as NP, are long-running. On Ghadr these histories form something new. A charged record which faces the world as it is while offering glimpses of something else.
MOOSE TERRIFIC (rptd051) is a Montreal-based experimental electronic duo formed in 2016 and consisting of Sam Shalabi and Tamara Filyavich.
Nude Beginnings is this duo’s second album, and consists of playful modular improvisations peppered with post-punk, jazz, psychedelic and early electronic influences. A blend in which one can recognize subtle influences of Ukrainian, Jewish, Arabic and Canadian musical elements, as per the artists’ cultural backgrounds, life and musical experiences.
Nude Beginnings invites the listener to participate in a rather hopeful game of hide and seek with its auditory universe, combining cheerful rhythms and beats with unexpectedly optimistic harmonies. Far from being a throwback to a different, more carefree time, which Sam and Tamara do not believe ever truly existed, this album is a punk response to the current moment, an invitation to heal in whatever way one chooses to.
TAMARA FILYAVICH is a sound art producer and experimental electronic musician who has lived in Montreal since 1993. Her music draws inspiration from early synthesizer music, Eastern European folklore, and post-punk, among many more influences. She is a member of B.U.M, Prelubbed Sisters, and the duo Tamayugé with Maya Kuroki.
SAM SHALABI is an Egyptian-Canadian composer and improviser living in Montreal. Since his beginnings as a punk musician in the late 70’s, his work has evolved into a fusion of experimental, modern Arabic Music that incorporates traditional Arabic, chaabi, noise, classical, text, free improvisation and jazz. He is a member of Shalabi Effect, Dwarfs of East Agouza, Land of Kush (an experimental 30-member orchestra of which he is the main composer), Karkhana and Nutsack, among many others.
Nude Beginnings was composed, performed and produced in Montreal. Artwork and design by Hatem Imam (Studio Safar).
Available as a limited edition of 60 cassettes, shipping exclusively from our Bandcamp page.
Considered to be one of the earliest composers of electronic music, Halim El-Dabh (1921-2017) was an Egyptian-American musician, ethnomusicologist, and educator. The works in this compilation span his astounding six decade career, moving across Halim El-Dabh’s eclectic, undefinable, and groundbreaking oeuvre – including field recordings, concertos, electronic music compositions, and improvised instrumentals.
Made available here for the first time in the vinyl record format, this compilation was lovingly curated by El-Dabh researcher Joe Namy and Benjamin Gaydos, under the guidance of Halim El-Dabh’s estate.
“It was a drive really, to hear something beyond what I was hearing. So I had to use all the electronic means to reach that sound that I was hearing and it’s not there. And the means to do it was right there around me.”
–Halim El-Dabh speaking about his process in creating Taabir El Zaar (aka The Wire Recorder Piece) in 1944.
All tracks courtesy of Halim El-Dabh LLC and Deborah El-Dabh (p) 2022. Used by permission.
Mastered by Warren Defever.
Liner notes by Joe Namy.
Artwork by Hatem Imam. Design by Studio Safar for Flint Magazine.
This project is a collaborative release by Flint Magazine, Studio Safar, and Annihaya Records
Available as a limited edition vinyl LP, pressed in Detroit at Third Man Records.
Following their collaboration on the Lebanese vinyl edition of Senyawa’s “Alkisah” in February 2021, indie labels Annihaya and Ruptured are collaborating on two vinyl releases, to be released simultaneously in August 2021.
These are the 3rd album from Lebanese post-rock collective KINEMATIK, entitled “Al Jadi”, and the 2nd album from CALAMITA (the trio of guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, bassist Tony Elieh and drummer Davide Zolli), entitled “Nemesis”.
Both albums were recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut.
Both albums were mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering, Montreal.
All artworks by Hatem Imam, Studio Safar.
Ruptured and Annihaya (as well as a hefty assortment of indie labels from all over the place, including Jordan’s Drowned By Locals and Bahrain’s Qarar) are taking part in the release of SENYAWA’s incredible new album “Alkisah”, on February 21st.
To accompany our co-release of “Alkisah”, we’ve commissioned remixes from some of our favorite contributors: Anthony Sahyoun, Aya Metwalli, C-drík, Hatem Imam, Jad Atoui, Jana Saleh, Jawad Nawfal, Safa, Stephanie Merchak and Ziad Moukarzel.
Hatem Imam and Omar Khouri are the creative masterminds behind Lebanese comics publication Al Samandal. Much to our delighted surprise, they also happen to possess a musical partnership that goes under the delightful name of ‘Al Marmoot‘. Animal names, graphic design, and space rock were on the menu of this highly unusual edition of Ruptures.
Ruptured Music 