A monthly selection of alternative, ambient and experimental music from Lebanon and the MENA region, selected by music promoter and label owner Ziad Nawfal. Originally commissioned by Stegi Radio and produced by Onassis Stegi.
1. Marmalsana [Burkhard Beins, Tony Elieh & Maurice Louca] – Inundo
2. Youmna Saba – Akaleel
3. Yara Asmar – Are These Your Hands? Would You Like Them Back? (With Majd Chidiac)
4. Marmalsana [Burkhard Beins, Tony Elieh & Maurice Louca] – Alveno
Mhamad Safa is a musician, architect and researcher, based between London and Beirut. Safa’s work focuses on multi-scalar spatial conditions and their sonic make-ups. He conveys these auditory inquiries by assembling sound design, micro-sampling, algorithmic sound technology, synthesis, psychoacoustics, field recordings, and their graphic interpretations. His debut album The Subtleties of Elevated Things was released in 2018 by Amsterdam-based label Modular Mind, and second album Ibtihalat was released in 2022 by UIQ in the UK. Besides composing music for films and sound installations, he was part of multiple publications and music compilations. Safa had shown individual and collaborative artwork and performances at Goethe Institute in Beirut, Arab Center for Architecture, Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, the Centre for Research Architecture in London, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, Bergen Assembly in Norway, The Showroom in London, Café Oto in London among others.
The music on Hometown was produced for the video installation of the same title by Dutch collective Metahaven, shot between Beirut and Kyiv in 2017. The film conjures notions of land, technology, and fiction through an endlessly morphing reality of living conditions. Seen through the lens of two protagonists, Hometown depicts their uncertain and distorted relationship to geographic affinities, and the intimate memories embedded within the landscape. The original score emerged out of a continuous exchange of images, scripts, and poetry between Safa and Metahaven, evolving into an overall sonic narrative. The composition highlights the protagonists’ struggle to access memory while situating it within their spatial and networked conditions. Evolving from processed soundscapes, stretched micro-samples and feedbacks, this assemblage weaves together a sense of forgetting with tacit spatial knowledge. Percussive and rhythmic structures drew from patterns inherent to computational systems and technologies of visibility, omnipresent in the film.
Music composed and produced by Mhamad Safa in Beirut in 2017-2018. Mixed by Mhamad Safa, except for tracks 5 and 8 mixed by Jad Atoui. Mastered by Cedrik Fermont at Syrphe, Berlin.
Available as a digital album and limited cassette with download code.
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens, featuring music from Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia and Sweden. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens, featuring music from Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine and Jordan. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
This mix was commissioned by Movement Athens for its radio festival “Exploring Mediterranean Futures” [Feb. 15-19, 2022], a 5-day radio festival focused on the sounds of the Mediterranean, searching for geographical and chronological connections through its culture, ideas and people.
Ziad Nawfal’s mix presents music recorded by various artists and bands from Beirut’s indie and experimental music scenes, between 2010 and 2021. A few of the tracks were officially released in some form or another, some of them are early drafts and demos, and a couple consist of live sessions recorded during Nawfal’s 35-year tenure at Beirut’s crumbling government station Radio Liban.
Fadi Tabbal – After the Fire, Before the End [Unreleased]
Charbel Haber & Sary Moussa – And Yet Another Romance on A Sinking Ship [V/A The Drone Sessions Vol. 1]
Scrambled Eggs & A Trio – Beach Party at Mirna el Chalouhi (Diamond Setter’s Rework) [Unreleased]
The Art of Boo – BoomKaboom [Unreleased]
Safa – Dominant Gene [V/A Lost Archives]
Jad Atoui – FDBCK [Unreleased]
Tres Milliones Dolares – Jon Black [V/A Anthology of Electroacoustic Lebanese Music]
Ziad Moukarzel – Questions of Worry [V/A Anthology of Electroacoustic Lebanese Music]
Ziad Nawfal’s 7th monthly mix for Movement Radio in Athens – featuring music from Morocco, Iran, the USA, Lebanon, Portugal, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait and Tunisia. This mix was commissioned and produced by Onassis Cultural Center, and presented for the first time in the frame of MOVEMENT RADIO.
1. Abdellah M. Hassak – Seven Heavens [MA]
2. Saint Abdullah – As Gently As The Steps Of Death (feat. Moor Mother) [IR/US]
3. Jawad Nawfal – Corps Amplifiés [LB]
4. Stéphanie Merchak – Espaces et Ombres [LB]
5. Mohammad Reza Mortazavi – Exploring [IR]
6. Victor Gama – Horizonte Suspenso #3 [PT]
7. Nur – Mediterranean [EG]
8. Senyawa – Menuju Muara (Safa Remix) [ID/LB]
9. Fatima Al Qadiri – Blajat Interlude [KW]
10. Safa – Particle Filtering Through A Great Elastic Wave [LB]
11. Sepehr – Neophyte Delight [IR]
12. Bikya [Maurice Louca / Mahmoud Refat / Mahmoud Waly] – Rokab [EG]
13. Azu Tiwaline – Tight Wind (feat. Cinna Peyghamy) [TN/IR]
14. FRKTL – Hverfa af himni heiðar stjörnur [EG]
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.
Ziad Nawfal’s monthly mix for Radio Ma3azef in Tunis – featuring music from Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, the USA and Canada:
1. Fadi Tabbal – The New and Improved Guide to Birdwatching Vol.3 [LB]
2. Abadir – Liminal [EG]
3. Anthony Sahyoun & Jawad Nawfal – January 19 [LB]
4. Aya Metwalli – Matkhafsh Menni [EG]
5. The Bunny Tylers – Let There Be Light [LB]
6. Jad Atoui – Impulse [LB]
7. Shinigami San – FGTN [TN]
8. Safa – Particle Filtering Through A Great Elastic Wave [LB]
9. NP – Grinning Through Dust [LB]
10. Tashweesh – Untitled [PS]
11. The Dwarfs of East Agouza – Clean Shahin [EG/CA/US]
Ruptured Music 