Tag: Jawad Nawfal

Ruptures Radio Show // El RASS & MUNMA Edition // 19 May 2014

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Two years after their first recorded collaboration, the successful “Kachf el Mahjoub / Unveiling the Hidden” (for the Ruptured label), Lebanese artists and musicians Mazen el-Sayed aka El Rass and Jawad Nawfal aka Munma released its long-awaited follow-up, “Adam, Darwin and the Penguin”, in May 2014. A few days before the launch concert of the album in popular live venue Metro Al-Madina in Hamra, Beirut, we ran a radio show detailing the genesis and production of the record and its different contributors.

Listen:
ruptures el rass & munma 19/05 (part 1)
+
ruptures el rass & munma 19/05 (part 2)

Track listing:
El Rass & Munma (2014)
El Rass & Munma (Munma remix)
El Rass & Munma (2012)
El-Far3i (Munma prod.)
El-Far3i (2014)
Boikutt 
El Rass & Munma (Feat. Boikutt, 2014)
El Rass & Munma (2013)
Nasreddine Touffar (Munma prod.)
El Rass & Munma (2012)
El Rass & Munma (2014)
Munma (Feat. El Rass, 2013)

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Press Review // El Rass & Munma // Kachf el Mahjoub

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Four months following the release of El Rass & Munma‘s first collaboration “Kachf el Mahjoub / Unveiling the Hidden”, on the Ruptured music label, here are some of the reviews that were written about this excellent and unique album

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

EL RASS & MUNMA // Ruptured Session // 20 February 2012

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A couple of days prior to the release of their first recorded collaboration, “Kachf el Mahjoub / Unveiling the Hidden“, Lebanese artists EL RASS (Mazen el Sayed, words & vocals), and MUNMA (Jawad Nawfal, beats & electronic treatments), were the guest of Ruptures, for a presentation of the album and no less than three live performances. They were accompanied by Belgian electronic musician C-Drik, who spoke about the process of mastering the album.

Listen:
El Rass & Munma (20 Feb) part 1
+
El Rass & Munma (20 Feb) part 2

Track listing:
El Rass & Munma *3
El Rass & Munma LIVE *Nou7
El Rass & Munma LIVE *Rissala
Boom Bip & Dose One
Munma
Radiokvm
El Rass & Munma LIVE


 

Photos by Tanya Traboulsi

Ruptured Live // EL RASS & MUNMA // Metro al Madina

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RUPTURED presents
The CD Launch & Live Premiere of
KACHF EL MAHJOUB [UNVEILING THE HIDDEN]
A musical collaboration between
EL RASS (Mazen el Sayed, words & vocals)
& MUNMA (Jawad Nawfal, beats & electronics)

ABOUT THE CD

“Kachf el Mahjoub / Unveiling the hidden” is a musical collaboration between Lebanese poet and musician Mazen el Sayed, otherwise known as El Rass (The Head), and Lebanese electronica artist Jawad Nawfal aka Munma. El Sayed is a prolific writer and musician, at ease with a variety of instruments, while Nawfal has previously released an impressive number of albums and EPs, exploring downtempo electronica and ambient dubstep. The collision of harsh beats and brazen, slammed vocals works wonders on Unveiling the Hidden, a truly outstanding collaboration between Nawfal’s Munma project and Mazen el Sayed’s El Rass persona, produced and released by independent Lebanese label Ruptured.

Notorious for his masterful flow in the classical Arabic language, quite an uncommon phenomenon in Lebanon’s exuberant rap scene, El Rass is impressive on Unveiling the Hidden, with lyrics tackling both social and political sensitive subjects. Munma, on the other hand, creates a sound-world perfectly fitting El Rass’s agitated discourse, alternating between broken beats, elaborate percussion, and ambient layers of synths. At times reminiscent of mutant hiphop outfit Shabazz Palaces, at others of the collaboration between dubstep producer Kode9 and vocalist The SpaceApe, this album is an uncanny meeting of Arabic hip-hop and electronica, and represents an exceptional event in the realm of contemporary Lebanese alternative music.

LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/el-rass-the-head/borkan-beirut

Ruptured Live // C-DRIK & Friends // EM Chill

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Belgian electronic musician C-DRIK, live at EM Chill [Mar Mikhael, Beirut]
accompanied by several talented Lebanese electronicians

CEDRIK FERMONT (aka C-drík Fermont, C-drík, Cdrk, Kirdec, Y-drík, M-drík, F-drík and many other “-drík”) is a multifaceted vegan artist, academically trained musician, DJ, singer, composer and drummer.

Of Greek, Zairian and Belgian descent, born in Zaire (RDC), he lived in Belgium, where he studied under the guidance of electro-acoustic composer Annette Van de Gorne, before relocating to the Netherlands, then to Germany in 2010. C-drík started his first electronic project in 1989, and juggles between different musical genres, including electronica, noise, breakcore, digital punk, electro-acoustic, industrial, ambient, free jazz, hip hop, etc. He is also a label manager and promoter, producing his own projects and those of similarly-minded experimental artists, mostly from Asia and Africa.

 

 

(2011 end-of-year lists) – JAWAD NAWFAL

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I asked some of my favorite musicians from Beirut and beyond, to tell me what their favorite records of 2011 were…

Jawad Nawfal: producer, sound artist, musician (Munma, formerly with Index/Left, AEX, Ae_Quo…)

– Amon Tobin: ISAM (Ninja Tune)
– Culprate:Colours (Gradient Audio)
– Kuedo: Videowave EP (Planet Mu)
– Vessel: Wax Dance EP (A Future Without)
– 2562: Fever (Doubt Records)
– Zomby: Nothing (4AD)
– Loops Haunt: Ark EP (Black Acre)
– iTAL tEK: Whip It Up EP (Atom River)
– Semiomine: From Memory (Ad Noiseam)
– The Third Eye Foundation: The Dark (Ici D’ailleurs)

Ziad Moukarzel & Jawad Nawfal [INDEX/LEFT] // Interview // 12 July 2010

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Lebanese dubstep duo INDEX/LEFT (Ziad Moukarzel & Jawad Nawfal) were the guests of RUPTURES to present a selection of new tracks recorded exclusively for their BASEMENT concert of July 16. And by the same token, the two hyperactive boys offered Ruptures’ audience an overview of the Dubstep genre, from its early beginnings to the present day.

Listen:
Index Left part 1
+
Index Left part 2

Track listing:
Ramadanman
Ziad Moukarzel & Jawad Nawfal [Index/Left]
King Midas Sound
Quanta 330
Kode9
Martyn
Headhunter
Zomby
Modeselektor (feat. Thom Yorke)
Bloc Party (Burial remix)

Photos by Caroline Tabet

MUNMA // Ruptured Session // 10 May 2010

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One of the first and foremost Lebanese artists operating in the field of electronica today, JAWAD NAWFAL has held live appearances in Lebanon and France, and regularly collaborated with Lebanese electronic musicians (including TRASH INC and dubstep project INDEX/LEFT). He has released 3 albums of ambient electronic music between 2006 and 2008 on Lebanese label Incognito, under the name Munma. He was the guest of RUPTURES to present his 4th album “Previews & Premises”, a collection of tracks recorded by Nawfal between 2006 and 2010. Not exactly a compilation, not exactly a concept album either, this new release was accompanied by a live concert at The Basement, on May 14, which marked Munma’s first “solo” appearance on a Lebanese stage since 2007.

Listen:
Munma 10 May part 1
+
Munma 10 May part 2

Track listing:
Munma
Ziad Moukarzel & Jawad Nawfal [Index/Left]
Jawad Nawfal & Jad Atoui


 

Photos by Tanya Traboulsi

Review // Munma // Unholy Republic

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[By Ziad Nawfal, April 2009]

MUNMA: UNHOLY REPUBLIC (Incognito, 2009)

The third official release by Lebanese electronic artist Jawad Nawfal sees him revisiting familiar themes and musical landscapes, while displaying the possibility for some radical departures in the near future. ‘Unholy Republic’ is the third installment of what is commonly referred to as the “Fate trilogy”, one that saw the day in the aftermath of the war waged by Israel on Lebanon in summer 2006. The first two releases, ‘34 Days’ and ‘Black Tuesday’, were marked by ominous moods and atmospheres, sets of menacing clicks and glitches, and a random selection of radio samples and speeches that conveyed brilliantly the mind-set and feelings of the artist, regarding the crisis at hand.

‘Unholy Republic’ picks up where ‘Black Tuesday’ left, with a rambling, brooding track haunted by static, radio noise, and some politician’s vehement preaching. This is followed by two tracks of subdued electronica, reminiscent of Munma’s previous releases. ‘Engram’, in particular, nods prominently towards South American musician Murcof’s output for the Leaf label. The rest of the album is more surprising, as Munma’s recent partner-in-crime, Nabil Saliba aka Trash Inc, enters the fray, and contributes his supple synth-enhanced melodies to ‘Broken Chime’ and ‘Deep Down Inside’. These show a different facet of Munma’s talent, and serve as a timely reminder that Jawad Nawfal is equally at ease devising ambient landscapes and dancefloor “stompers”. ‘Unholy Republic’ concludes on a short, ambient postcard entitled ‘Exodus’, signalling in the process the end of the “Fate trilogy”, and prefiguring realms of possibilities for Munma’s subsequent works.

LISTEN:

Audio 1: Engram

Audio 2: Deep Down

 

(2008 end-of-year lists) – JAWAD NAWFAL

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I asked the main actors of this here blog (mostly musicians, of course, but also friends, family, support-givers…) to provide me with a list (5 to 20 albums) of their favorite records of the year.

The results are slowly coming in. There are surprises, resemblances, similarities, incongruous choices… I’ve left the responses intact, exactly as I received them, along with my friends’ comments. So here goes:

Jawad Nawfal: musician, DJ, producer (Munma, AEX, Ae_Quo)

Sunken Foal “fallen arches”
Eero Johannes “lipton service boy”
Vibert & Simmons “rodulate”
Last Step “1961”
Portishead “third”
Benga “diary of an afro warrior”
Distance “repercussions”
Apparat “things to be frickeled”
Somatic Responses “digital darkness”
Larvae “loss leader“