AUDIO KULTUR AK 11 FREE
02 WORD FOR THE HERD
I
t’s been a while. You may (or may not) have noticed, but we didn’t put out an issue in February. The reason is two fold. The first being that February is a short, cold and generally horrible month. The second, and actual reason, is that we’ve got more going on than we can currently handle. We’ve been working on leaving our digital footprint for sometime now and the entire process has become pretty fucking frustrating. We have also been working on throwing a massive gig, which we’ve previewed for you in this issue, we’ve been putting the finishing touches to the first of a series of short docs that we plan to release this year, and we flew out to Kuwait to catch a glimpse of what appears to be one of the Gulf ’s most promising scenes. Anyway, we’re back and we’re ready to make some noise. Said website, which has been hanging like a millstone, should be finished this month and with it you’ll get to see the hard work our team has been putting in our first foray into the realm of moving pictures. That massive gig that we intended on throwing is going to be a little bigger than expected. What went from being a one night Sound System with Daddy G of Massive Attack (!), Nickodemus and Captain planet has been expanded to encompass 12 different artists and two nights of music. This came as a result of several large helpings of gin, a pretty heated argument (hi, Imad) and some timely mediation (hi, Jackson). It can also be noted that putting a few oversized egos aside didn’t seem to hurt either. No matter who you are or what you do, you’re smaller than the sum of the “scene” collectively. Not to mention that the “scene” is merely a drop in an ocean of mass produced pop idols and talent show rejects. For every 5,000 person warehouse stomper there are stadiums across the world sold out by some twat created in a laboratory by record label sponsored scientists who have found a version of the brown note that causes teenagers to shit out money. We’ve got to collaborate and work together because if we’re not going to support each other who else will? As wanky as that sounds, we’ve found a fuck-ton of truth in it since we started this money sucking pit of a magazine. You don’t have to like someone’s work to appreciate what they’re trying to do. Solidarity is one size fits all. And it comes in your colour too. See you at the rave -tres
PUBLISHER
AK Publishing SAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tres Colacion
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Livia Caruso
ART DIRECTOR Ali El Sayed
WRITERS
Jackson Allers Natalie Shooter
PHOTOGRAPHY
Valentina Lola Vera
ILLUSTRATOR
Noura Andréa Nassar
COMIC
Marilyn Haddad
SALES
Samer Makarem
CONTACT
Got something to say? Write us at Junkmail@audiokultur.com Life is a pitch, but at least we want to pay you for it. Send your pitches to Editor@audiokultur.com Want a fresh shipment of Audio Kultur every month to your fine establishment? TheGuy@AudioKultur.com All advertising inquiries go to SellOut@AudioKultur.com audiokultur.com facebook.com/audiokultur issuu.com/audiokultur
TABLE OF CONTENTS 03
04. FEATURED ARTIST: ERIC VOLTA
12. FEATURE:
06. FLASHBACKS
& REVELATIONS
2 NIGHTS UNDERGROUND
18. FEATURED ARTIST:
16. TUNEAGE
FERTILE ROOTS
26. FEATURE:
24. THE METROPOLIS(T)
BETWEEN THE LINES
34. DAS KOMIC
04 FEATURED ARTIST
HIGH VOLTAGE Eric Volta chats growing up everywhere, Pioneer mixers and why magenta makes him hot
FEATURED ARTIST 05
C
osmic producer Eric Volta is a man on a mission. Since scoring a massive hit with 2013 ‘Love Your Illusion’ on Jonny White’s Art Department no. 19 imprint, Volta has toured the world, released tracks for everyone from Visionquest to Ellum and pretty much become a household name. We caught up with the man himself after he smashed it at the legendary B018 right here in Beirut.
AK: Eric, you played at B018 a little while ago. What did you think of the club and gig? How did the Beirut scene match up to your expectations?
Well it was a first to walk into a bunker. The approaching scene was just so cool. And then heaving when I got in. The guys told me it doesn’t fill up so early which is nice. Yeah the crowd was live as hell. Thank you. You know it would be nice if we could hear from BO18 and see if I met their expectations too. I don’t ever expect anything from people who are out to have a good time. I only hope they do!
AK: You’ve played a fair amount of gigs in the last few AK: What’s up Eric. For the chronically uneducated please tell us something about yourself. Are you on Tinder? Do you like to cook? What are your feelings about the colour magenta?
Sure I’m on Tinder but for me Fetlife is way more entertaining and fun. And the colour Magenta makes me think of an orgy during a beautiful african sunset.
AK: You had a pretty eclectic upbringing. Can you tell us a bit about the places you’ve lived and how they’ve influenced you as an artist?
I’ve lived in many countries in my life and in some nice ways it’s made me very accepting of people and aware of how good we could be if we stopped seeing ourselves as being from here or there, but rather as all being connected to one another as in ‘we are of here, right now.’
years. Where are some of your favourite places to play? What makes one city stand out from the next? For sure Burning Man was my top last year, that was something else. Clubwise Toy Toy in Johannesburg was my favourite club night to play at last year, and I’m sad to hear it’s just been shut down. This year so far it’s been BO18!
AK: What's the strangest request you've ever had on a night? From a fan/promoter/clubgoer/etc.
When they ask me to use a Pioneer mixer. That one always gets me chuckling.
AK: What’s next for you? What are your plans for this year?
I’m travelling to Asia again in a couple of weeks to see friends and family and I’m going to play a few shows in Singapore, Thailand, Bali, and Australia.
AK: One of the beautiful things about electronic music is its ability to stay dynamic. As someone entrenched in the scene, where do you see it going next? Follow me.
AK: What’s the best film you’ve seen recently and why? If you weren't a DJ, what would you be doing?
Well, when I’m not a DJ , which is often at least 22 hours of the day, I eat and sleep, read books - I read a lot of books. I cook, go to galleries and exhibitions. I’m definitely a debauched frequent fornicator, I write music - I love writing music.
CITY:
London, UK & Berlin, Germany
WEBSITE:
www.facebook.com/ericvolta soundcloud.com/ericvolta
ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
Love Your Illusion - Eric Volta [No.19 Music] Believe feat. D.ablo - Eric Volta [Ellum Audio] Django - Eric Volta [Dirtybird] My Senses & My Window to Your World - Eric Volta [Ellum Audio] Spoonfed (Eric Volta remix) Cozzy D [Uberbeat Records]
06 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS A month of the hottest parties for your viewing pleasure
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 07
27 PHOTOS BY:
JIMMY FRANCHISE
08 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
CPHOTOSU NXT SAT BY: CARL HALAL
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 09
ODYSSEY PHOTOS BY: NADIM KAMEL
10 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS
RETRO CLASH PHOTOS BY:
LOLA VERA & ADHAM TEMSAH
FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 11
ÜBERHAUS PHOTOS BY:
LOLA VERA & RAYAN ABI
12 FEATURE
2 NIGHTS I UNDERGROUND
n the spirit of all things audio and culture, we’re teaming up with the Red Bull Music Academy to bring to you an absolutely massive weekender. The RBMA crew will be handling the bands on the Friday night and we’ll be putting together our biggest Sound System to date to wrap off the festivities on Saturday. To help get you in the mood, we’ve taken the liberty of putting together a little dossier on the artists who are coming together to make this happen.
Audio Kultur x Red Bull Music Academy
WHERE:
The Bus Station, Mar Mikheil
WHEN:
25 & 26 March
HOW MUCH:
$30 at the door, $40 weekend pass
FEATURE 13
CAPTAIN PLANET Charlie B. Wilder aka Captain Planet began DJing on a Tascam 4-track in his teens. That’s one for the purists. He quickly developed an obsession for all things vinyl and an affinity for the sampler. From reggae to African and Latin music, Captain Planet searches crates across the world in order to construct his signature “Gumbo Funk” sound. And it’s not one that has gone unnoticed. Planet has been remixed by the likes of Little Dragon, Erykah Badu, Katy B, Mia Doi Todd and Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura Project.
SOUNDS LIKE:
An Airport Terminal
WHERE:
Brooklyn, USA
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/djcaptain-planet
DADDY G (MASSIVE ATTACK) One half of Massive Attack and pretty much the godfather of Bristol Bass, Grant Marshall aka Daddy G is a man that knows a little something about Sound Systems. Founder of the notorious Wild Bunch Sound System, Daddy G has been evangelizing Bristol sound for over thirty years now. A true Sound System man, his DJ sets have become legendary not only on account of his technical abilities and selection, but largely for his ability to pick up the mic and get the crowd moving. Daddy G is one of the originals and we’re pretty delighted to welcome him back to Beirut.
NICKODEMUS Nickodemus is a kind of one man travelling circus. The man has been spinning tunes across the world since sometime around 1996 and shows no signs of slowing down. Founder of the legendary Turntables on the Hudson, Nicko has gone on to put out two albums and seen everyone from iTunes to True Blood try to get a piece of his beats. We’re bringing him back to Beirut solely based on proof that when Nickodemus is on the decks, the place goes off.
SOUNDS LIKE:
The soundtrack to your favourite indie movie.
SOUNDS LIKE:
Brooklyn, USA
WHERE:
soundcloud.com/ nickodemusnyc
LISTEN:
WHERE: LISTEN:
Splif
Bristol, United Kingdom soundcloud.com/massiveattack-2
14 FEATURE
PARALLEL SOUND SYSTEM Dream popper Parallel Sound System are a 3 piece outfit based in Dubai. The band made waves when they dropped their self titled EP about 10 months ago, and it’s been in heavy rotation around the AK office ever since. We’re big on the band's blend of a lo-fi aesthetic and lead singer Christianne Alvarez’s sultry vocals. Their live show is a spellbound mix of spacey synths, well dug samples and an equally vivid barrage of visual madness. In a scene of horrible 80s cover bands and a bunch of rockers holding on to the dream, Parallel Sound System represents one of the Emirates finest exports.
SHAMOOFERS
POSTCARDS SOUNDS LIKE:
Your last dream
WHERE:
Dubai, UAE
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/ parallelsoundsystem
Created by cousins Marwan Tohme and Pascal Semerdjian in 2012, the Beirut based quartet Postcards has been making quite a bit of noise as of late. Apparently they got their name from the Beirut song “Postcards From Italy” (That’s pretty meta right?) and take their cues from artists such as Mumford and Sons, Angus & Julia Stone and Fleet Foxes. Lead singer Julia Sabra has got the quintessential indie-folk voice and the rest of the band isn’t too shabby either. I sat down to write this next to my girlfriend’s flatmate while we were watching the football. To get into the mood, I put on one of the band's latest singles, “Where the Wild Ones”, to which he looked up from his phone and asked “who’s that?” “Postcards”, I responded. He shook his head, looked back at his phone and muttered, “shit, they’re actually, like, pretty good. Like they sound British or something.” I think I’ll just leave you with that.
SOUNDS LIKE:
It’s a bit of a strange task trying to introduce a band that has nearly 1,000,000 likes on Facebook, over 100,000 followers on SoundCloud and that most of you nevertheless have never heard of. Oh, Egypt. The Shamoofers are pretty much the beas knees over in Moses’ old stomping ground and that makes them pretty fucking big. Combining humourous but clever lyricism with an undeniable amount of groove, the Sharmoofers have already played on stages as big as the Bassem Youssef show. This is their Beirut debut and it will be a performance that should certainly not me missed.
SOUNDS LIKE:
The soundtrack to your favourite indie movie.
WHERE:
Beirut, Lebanon
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/ postcardsmusic
Cairo chaos
WHERE:
Cairo, Egypt
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/ sharmoofers
FEATURE 15
THE WANTON BISHOPS The Wanton Bishops have spent the last few years becoming a bit of a Beirut household name. We, of course, hosted their last bender of a concert and it was a right stomper. From special guests to bedouin grooves and a shit ton of whisky, Eddy Ghossein and Nader Mansour like to make a fair bit of noise. The blues revivalist might seem out of place in Beirut, but these two don’t really tend to give a shit. In fact, they pretty much wear it like a badge of honor chalking up their influences to "mostly inevitably clichéd stuff. Things like; love and the lack of it, money and the lack of it, or even loneliness and the abundance of it!”. We can get down with that.
ZAHED SULTAN SOUNDS LIKE:
Whisky soaked, foot stomping, blues revival
WHERE:
Beirut, Lebanon
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/ thewantonbishopsofficial
Zahed Sultan first came to our attention about a year ago when one of our writers, Jackson Allers aka Brother Jackson aka Backstage Jackson, forced fed him on us. We finally took the bait and Zahed has been part of the AK family ever since. He’s featured on the pages of this magazine, we brought him out here for our launch party (which rain, eventually, got the better of) and we even went out to Kuwait in January for the Kuwait Rising event he organised with the Red Bull Music Academy. Now, after some prolonged foreplay, he’ll finally get his chance to leave his mark on Beirut. His live show is an experience to say the least. Combining electronics, live instrumentation and mind bending visuals, we reckon you’ll get as hung up on him as we have.
WHERE:
Kuwait City, Kuwait
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/ zahedsultan
ZAED NAES
Hailing from Amman, Zaed Naes is a mean three piece that combines elements of post rock, jazz, funk, electronica and a bunch of other shit that you’ve probably liked on Facebook, but never really listened to. They dropped a seven track EP early this year and we like to play it at the office when we want to feel really smart. In an era of four-to-the-flour bangers, methodic pop anthems and some generally really shit music, Zaed Naes is on a different pitch. Unconcerned with trends, the Jordanian outfit make music that is on a different tip. Whether you appreciate that that tip is neither here nor there, their endeavour and work ethic definitely warrants the utmost respect.
SOUNDS LIKE: Intelligence
WHERE:
Amman, Jordan
LISTEN:
soundcloud.com/zaed-naes
16 TUNEAGE
ROUTE 8
THIS RAW FEELING LOBSTER THEREMIN
SKEPTA
PORTICO
MARCH 5/5
30 MARCH 5/5
Hungarian producer Route 8 returns to London’s based Lobster Theremin for the release of his fourtrack white label. The boutique imprint has been responsible for so much good music lately that it’s hard to imagine the producer would really want to go anywhere else. This Raw Feeling is a beautiful, dream like release that marks new territory for the Budapest native. The opening lick “The Sunrise in Her Eyes” grows as it progresses, with pulsating synths and some neat drum programing. The EP’s next track, “This Raw Feeling”, takes a more direct approach, but still holds on to that beauty. These tracks are fit. The flip side of the record sees Route 8 dabble in electro and drum breaks (“It Doesn't Matter Anymore”), before wrapping it up with the sublime “Ash Dub”.
When Skepta nearly dropped “That’s Not Me” nearly a year ago, a debate erupted over the resurgence of grime. The certified banger sparked endless YouTube comment threads, an all-star remix and the MOBO winning £70 video. Whether or not grime is “back” or has never really gone away is besides the point. The pressure is on the Boy Better Know boss man to put out an album that lived up to the hype, something the Norf London native has not always been able to do. Konnichiwa does more than that. It represents a new generation of grime, though not in the same way that someone like Stormzy does as one of the first kids solely raised on the genre. Rather, Skepta continues to represent the ability of grime to evolve and mature as a genre.
26 FEBRUARY 4/5
KONNICHIWA BOY BETTER KNOW
LIVING FIELDS NINJA TUNE Portico may be comprised of three-quarters of the Mercury nominated Portico Quartet, but with this release, under the shortened Portico moniker, the band has moved into fresh territory. From the production end, the album is defined by the group’s masterfully crisp drum programming. When surrounded around glistening synth lines and sweltering bass notes, it’s the drums that serve as the lifeblood. And then there’s the vocalists. Jono McCleery, Joe Newman (Alt-J) and Jamie Woon feature on a total of eight of the nine tracks. The singers are not merely used as additional instruments, but add a level of depth to each song. Each of the talented vocalist has certainly left his mark.
TUNEAGE 17
HOLLIS PARKER
LOOKING BACK EP SOSURE MUSIC 6 APRIL 5/5
Selecting tracks for review can be quite a strange task. You often want to review releases that are either widely anticipated or stand out amongst the vast sea of promos. Because of that, a lot of music, some of it very good, gets cast aside simply because it doesn’t stand out in a thirty second preview. Hollis Parker’s Looking Back EP doesn’t really stand out on an initial rip through, but there’s something about it that just grabs you. Some could attribute that attraction to the London based producer’s majestic strings or a sultry vocal sample, but a lot of promos have clever instrumentation and better vocals. It’s something more than that. The three tracks on the EP give you that same feeling that crate diggers often site as the cause of their obsession. That initial spin of a dusty, unknown record, that first spin where you just know “this is the one”. Take my money please.
DETROIT SWINDLE
THE PUNCH DRUNK EP HEIST RECORDINGS
NEW YORK TRANSIT AUTHORITY
The dutch duo, Lars Dales & Maarten Smeets aka Detroit Swindle, are back on their own imprint for their first release in about a year. The pair spent much of the last few years touring constantly and receiving some pretty esteemed accolades in the process. The EP opens up with “Alright (We’ll Be)” and it’s clear from the get go that that is what Detroit Swindle are all about. Retro-future, big filtered vocals and and all the other shit that gets you moving in your seat. The second track, “Pursuit”, is a more jacking number with smooth pads and a bouncy low-end. The release is rounded off by “Heads Down”, a more techno inspired track with a clever vocal chop and throw back synths.
Bristol bass genius Mensah Anderson aka New York Transit Authority has been releasing music under his geographically misleading alias for just over a year now. His unapologetic blend of bass music and throw back vocals, as in “Watching Feat. Harper Lake”, has seen his tunes turn up in a vast variety of sets. NYTA has a gift for creating upbeat bass-driven house music that is never in danger of sounding cheesy (think Dirty Bird, but instead add a breath of fresh air to sets that have long become monotonous.) On “Brooklyn Underground”, Anderson defines and redefines his own sound in only a few minutes’ time. Pick it up, give it a play and you’ll see exactly what we’re talking about.
23 FEBRUARY 4/5
NYTA EP LOBSTER BOY 2 MARCH 4/5
18 FEATURE
FERTILE ROOTS Rooted in the shaabi sounds of the Levant, previously Amman now London based band 47Soul are evolving the region’s musical heritage By: Natalie Shooter
FEATURE 19
I
n the kitchen of a small terraced house on a North East-London estate, Ramzy Suleiman, Hamza Arnaout, Tareq Abu Kwaik and Rami Nakhle sit around a laptop watching a YouTube video of Akala’s “Find No Enemy,” debating whether the London rapper lives up to the hype, as the rain drizzles down the window outside. They make up four of the five members of 47Soul, a Palestinian new shaabi band formed in Amman in 2013 that has recently relocated to London.
It all started when Palestinian-American songwriter, keyboardist and producer Suleiman, who goes by the name Z the People, came to Jordan from the US and met Abu Kwaik aka El Far3i, at the time a member of post rock band El Morabba3 and one of the biggest names in Arabic rap. He introduced Suleiman to his producer Arnaout, aka El Jihaz, also the bassist of Jordanian reggae-indie band Autostrad and they later worked together on a solo EP. They all connected via YouTube to Palestinian-based Walaa Sbait, a dubdabke dancer, poet and teacher. Nakhle, of mountain reggae band Toot Ard from the occupied Golan Heights, recently completed the five, bringing live drums to the 47Soul sound. Since first coming together, they’ve created music rooted in the rhythms and melodies that have dominated the region of Bilad al-Sham (the Levant) for years; the soundtrack for everything from wedding parties to the street-side shisha café, but funneled through the diverse spectrum of their respective musical inspirations and past projects. Call it electromijwez, shamstep, or electro-dabkeh, they’ve already garnered considerable attention and a steady fan base in both the Middle East and UK, despite having only released one live EP to date. Ironically, though previously living in neighboring countries, only now - 3000km away from home in London - is the band all together in the same country for the first time. “To get all of 47Soul in one country is not that easy for us in the Middle East,” Arnaout says, wearing an Afghan hat. “It’s our struggle. We
write about all these problems we face.” Abu Kwaik continues, “Rami is from the Golan Heights, so he doesn’t have a passport. Walaa has an Israeli passport; all this creates limitations. We try not to make it our main focus, but we’d be naive if we acted like it wasn’t an issue. It’s part of the name, part of the message, part of the music, but we don’t want people to view us as only that.” Of course, being a band of Palestinian musicians there’s a tendency for people to politicize their music and expect them to be mouthpieces for what’s going on in Palestine, but though there’s a message to their music, 47Soul would prefer to be regarded as musicians first. “I had to answer questions for an interview a few days ago and all of the questions were like ‘is the UK politicized enough as an arena? How do you see musical struggle in Palestine?’ Basically the answer was that a social anthropologist [would] answer that for you,” Abu Kwaik says. “That’s not our goal.” As the band gears up for its third London tour, the UK’s capital city has proved an incubating environment for the group’s music, where they’ve been soaking up the musical diversity and connecting with audiences. “London is a city for music, any musician would be happy to be based here and we know that being here is going to take this style even further. Whenever we go out we’re exposed to new sounds,” Arnaout says, as Nakhle brings over glasses of tea. Before coming together, the members of 47Soul had long toyed with the idea of a project focusing on the
20 FEATURE
melodies and rhythms of the Levant. “We’d kind of talked about this style a lot. All of us as individuals jammed the idea of playing these styles, these Levant type grooves from Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. And the idea came up of Ramzy playing Arabic-style but on analogue keys, to give it a more fat electronic sound,” Abu Kwaik says. After preparing a set and playing their first gig in Amman, they played at the UK’s Arabic music festival, Shubbak, in the summer of 2013. “After that it clicked. The feedback was good; it was new for the people and new for us,” he adds. Since then the band has played numerous concerts across London and the UK, at Dalston’s Passing Clouds, SOAS, University of London, as well as recording a track at the legendary BBC Maida Vale Studios, for the World Service a few weeks back. Their live performances are high-energy dance parties rooted in electronic dabke sounds, with fast-paced hyper analogue synth melodies, hypnotic derbake hammerings matched with live drum beats, groovefilled guitar lines and vocal choruses that jump between English and Arabic. Their music retains the energy of a traditional Palestinian wedding, with a large live improvisational element and whirring extended mijwez solos. “I’ve been listening to this music since I was a kid. Dabke is played at every wedding. It’s on the street where I came from,” Arnaout says. “The understanding of it is kind of built in subconsciously so it’s so easy to arrange.” Their sound also incorporates numerous other genres, with everything from reggae and hip hop
to afrobeat and rai slipping into their melodies, but the band don’t consider this meeting of sounds as fusion, more a natural culmination of the music they’ve been listening to their whole lives. “The sound is always going to be an intersection of our personalities and what we’re interested in. It always evolves depending on what kind of sound we’re feeling in the moment. We come from a globalized generation,” Suleiman says succinctly. Arnaout continues, “Yeah, we grew up listening to this kind of music, but we were also exposed to MTV, to rock, hip hop, reggae. But I know that we all share the idea of developing our own sound. Not representing a country or a culture, but just representing ourselves. That satisfaction of delivering a fresh sound is the hardest task for any musician.” Suleiman continues, “It shouldn’t be like if you listen to our music, that’s that Palestinian sound, that Syrian sound, no that’s the 47Soul sound. It can’t be replicated, it can’t be compared to anything, it can’t be boxed in; it’s just itself.” The kind of shaabi music and dabke that 47Soul tap into has always been part of the region’s identity and continues to have a big presence in popular culture and the streets. Lately though, this genre of music that rarely passed into the output of alternative musicians from the Arab world has now begun to infiltrate the melodies of different groups throughout the region. From the movement of Egypt’s “new wave” of young electro-shaabi artists notching up YouTube views into the millions, many of whom recently signed
to alternative Egyptian music label 100Copies, to underground artists such as Maurice Louca who integrated the genre with experimental psychedelics into his recent trippy album “Benhayyi AlBaghbaghan” (Salute the Parrot), a younger generation of Arab musicians are essentially revisiting their roots and turning the focus inwards. Arnaout, however, is cynical about Egypt’s electro shaabi hype and questions its labeling as a burgeoning genre. “I’ve heard it many times. I don’t think it’s true that electro shaabi is rising in the Middle East. Shaabi music has been there for ages; it’s the backbone of the Middle East. I don’t think it was weaker before. I guess the difference now could be that the youth of where we come from are more conscious of the fact that we need to bring our own style of music. But if you go to a library and do research through many subjects, you’re still gonna have to write your own essay.” But there’s no doubt that the sounds are also starting to have an influence beyond the Middle East, from the international success of long-time Syrian dabke singer and musician Omar Souleyman to the success of compilations from record labels such as Sublime Frequencies, revisiting shaabi music from the Levant. As artists and audiences around the world begin to explore the wealth of Arabic music heritage, could this be the era for music from the Middle East? “I think [the interest in electro shaabi] opens more curiosity for people to understand Arabic music in general,” Abu Kwaik says. “Even if electronic people are
FEATURE 21
gonna be like how the hell is this being played? Why does this sound like this? Oh, there’s a quarternote – what is that? All these questions will rise.” Arnaout continues, “I am kind of glad that I start to hear some mijwez sounds in a Bjork track, it doesn’t annoy me. I think it’s really great that you have more people exposed to this style because that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re a part of this huge movement and we’re trying to take this style, push it and spread it internationally,” he says. “Since the ‘80s a lot of international artists have been working with shaabi musicians from the Middle East, Egypt, Morocco... I think the gap of research about what happened in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Arabic music is what’s missing.” But 47Soul don’t only want to shine a spotlight on these music forms from the Levant, they have bigger ambitions to evolve its forms and create a new genre, to take from their musical heritage and develop it. “Now we have more acts trying to [create that sound] and I consider ourselves a part of them, but we also want to do music from the mentality of having played and produced other styles too. We’re not people who’ve been playing this style at weddings all our lives, not to judge that, but this is more like, ‘let’s make electronic and dance music that’s on the same level power and production-wise as other genres, but all the while using that sound’,” Abu Kwaik says. There’s a genuine visible excitement the band has towards the potential of 47Soul, despite the success they’ve all had on their individual projects. Z the People & El Jihaz’ side project – with minimal synthy
electronics, groovy basslines and Z’s soulful vocals played to a crowd into the thousands at last summer’s Wicker Park Festival in Lebanon’s Batroun. Abu Kwaik has reached huge audiences with his acoustic rap and hip hop project El Far3i, recently releasing a new album with Damar, and Toot Ard continue to grow in popularity, but there’s a general consensus that 47Soul will now become their main focus. “I think the passion of wanting to create a new genre is the main thing all five of us share,” Abu Kwaik says. “I don’t want to be just a musician who played something. This is different, we’re playing that style and trying to take it to different places and make it ours. Of course you can’t help but be proud of it too, because when you say this music represents my street, it literally does. If someone comes and visits me and we go to the supermarket to buy some bread, this is what we’d hear.”
WEBSITE:
47soul.com Facebook: 47Soul Catch 47Soul live at this year’s WOMAD Festival
22 METROPOLIS(T)
THE METROPOLIS(T) AYAM BEIRUT AL CINEMA’IYA 12 – 21 MARCH
I
t is a fact that nothing makes you both better looking and more intelligent than an extensive knowledge of arthouse cinema. Nothing. So with the collective sex lives of our entire readership in mind, we’ve partnered up with the good people at Metropolis to help increase your right swipe rate on Tinder. Each month you will find a selection of films that you can watch on the big screen and then casually drop into conversation to make people think you are really, really cultured. You’re welcome.
Set up in 2001 by a group of like minded young filmmakers desperate to see their work on the big screen, Ayam Beirut Al-Cinema'iya has become one of the most anticipated non-competitive biennials for Arab films. More importantly, it’s become the kind of cultural manifestation that the region seriously needs. The event includes screenings, debates, meetings with film makers and even workshops with industry professionals. #Amazing. In support of the festival, Beirut Cinema Classic will be putting on a tribute to the late stars of Arab cinema, screening two films by acclaimed filmmaker Henry Barakat. The screening will take place at the Smallville Hotel in the gentrified bastion of Beirut´s Badaro district.
METROPOLIS(T) 23
AL KALB LOU WAHED Where you can catch a glimpse of the recently passed away diva Sabah in her first ever appearance on the silver screen.
AFWAH WA ARANEB Starring Faten Hamama, who passed away in January, the film tackles social problems like family planning and classism that are still just as relevant today. It was originally released in 1977...oh how far we’ve come.
THE VALLEY BY GHASSAN SALHAB The Valley made its worldwide premiere at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2014 and won the prize for Best Director of the Arab World. The film is centered around the aftermath of a car accident on a mountain road which results in a middle-aged man losing his memory. As the dude walks away from the scene of the accident, totally covered in blood, he runs into some seemingly nice people having some car trouble of their own. After helping them get their car up and running, they decide to take the blood covered man back to their home in the Bekaa. It turns out these roadside good samaritans are not exactly your average Bekaa farmers, and that’s where shit starts to gets interesting.
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BETWEEN THE LINES
Lebanese photographer Cyrille Karam on stealing portraits, the early days of the internet and people who dress up their dogs
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AK: Tell us a little about yourself to start things off.
extended stint in Lyon (FR). Tell us a bit about that decision.
26 / Woman with a male name / Beirut.
Actually I'm not technically “coming back” because I've never lived in Lebanon for long periods of time. I was born In Zahle - and right after that my family moved to Saudi Arabia. I then spent almost 10 years in France.
A/S/L?
AK: What side of the bed do you sleep on? What are
your feelings about people who dress up their dogs? All that good stuff… I have a single bed. My feelings about people that dress up their dogs? Confusing … It's a one way thing; the master who thinks his dog is his own kid. We should consider animals for what they are. That's it.
AK: How did you originally get into photography? I lived in Saudi Arabia for 15 years, a country where representing the body or taking a photo in public spaces is forbidden. The relationship with the body and all its complexities that I experienced there as a child, as a young girl, has definitely played a role in my understanding of ‘the image’ and its power. My "nomadic" childhood between France, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, during which I experienced three very different cultures, gave me first a desire and then a need to express myself through photography. When I arrived to France, I was 15 years old. From Riyadh, I landed in a small village in Auvergne surrounded by nature and fields and I began attending a private catholic school where I can say with certainty that I was the only "exotic stranger". I needed a way to tame the environment I was made to deal with. I started with a bad quality compact camera until a friend gave me her analog Minolta. Before getting married, her dream was to become an artist but she eventually dedicated her life to the fields - her husband was a farmer. It was a way to push me to do what she could no longer do herself. It was a heavy camera. I felt responsible and serious holding such an apparatus. I started to shoot everything I could - the work in the fields, their family, their dog, and my first portraits were taken at agricultural fairs.
AK: You recently moved back to Beirut after an
Before moving to Beirut, I moved around France for two years after graduating in 2013 from the National School of Photography in Arles. I felt a bit lost after that, I couldn't tell what I wanted to do and how. I worked on different kinds of projects - personal ones and other odd jobs - but nothing that made me particularly want to stay. Meanwhile, Lebanon was always somewhere in my thoughts, as if something was missing, and I felt I had to repair a "rendezvous manqué" with Beirut. So I packed my stuff and decided to settle down here.
AK: Do you have any one image you’ve shot that stands out amongst the rest? If so why?
I experiment a lot with my images. I couldn’t talk about one specific and isolated picture. It's more about the experience than the image itself. My first stolen portrait was one I took of my grandmother. She is blind, and I didn't tell her I was still in her room, observing her. I felt guilty about stealing her image, but today, I still think it's one of my favorite portraits.
My latest crushes have been the works of Christine and the Queens, a French artist I find fascinating while she performs. She develops a feminine and masculine character, a strong and intelligent visual identity. Also, the film director Xavier Dolan, who has this amazing capacity to set beautiful tensions between his characters by using popular tracks. The time stops, and the music starts. Heartbeats/Lawrence Anyway/ Mommy.
AK: You can never use a camera again. What do you do instead?
If I can no longer photograph, I write. AK: Feelings on internet dating? Tinder? Stories please. It reminds me of the beginning of the Internet’s first platforms for online meetings. Long columns of chats with 20 participants writing at the same time. A mix of sex, seduction, insults, hope and despair. It was absurd. A real hunt between the lines. No stories. Self censor.
AK: Tell us about the last dream you had that you remember.
The presence of an animal. It's almost systematic. In the last dream I remember, I was taking a bath with a tiny octopus, it was swimming all around me. I couldn't move. Soft and frightening.
AK: What kind of impact do you want your work to have? Do you have a certain end goal?
I would be gratified if only the person who looked at my work felt lost for a few seconds.
AK: What kind of music are you into at the moment? Do you find musical inspiration for your work?
I love music but I have really bad auditory memory. I enjoy the existing sound, but I won't provoke it. Most of the time, I discover sounds by chance. I listen to one french radio [FIP], which proposes a very eclectic selection from all around the world, rare tracks from unknown or forgotten artists, a lots of jazz, independent musicians etc.
NAME:
Cyrille Karam
PLACE OF BIRTH: Zahlé, Lebanon
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/01/1989
E-MAIL:
cyrillekaram@gmail. com
WEBSITE:
cyrille-k.tumblr.com cyrillekaram.com
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