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Nawa Recordings announces the release of Alif’s debut album Aynama-Rtama

June 18, 2015

 

 

(cover art featuring a painting by Syrian-Lebanese visual artist Semaan Khawam)

(cover art featuring a painting by Syrian-Lebanese visual artist Semaan Khawam)

 

Nawa Recordings announces the release of Alif’s debut album Aynama-Rtama
  Nawa Recordings is proud to announce the release of Alif’s debut album Aynama-Rtama worldwide on Friday 4 September 2015
  Alif is the collective sound of five musicians at the forefront of independent music in the Arab world, and Nawa Recordings is a label dedicated to bringing new alternative music from the Arab world and elsewhere. Conceived in 2012 and taking its name from the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, Alif features Khyam Allami (Oud), Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (Vocals/Buzuq), Bashar Farran (Bass), Maurice Louca (Keys/Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Drums/Percussion).
  Their self-produced debut, Aynama-Rtama (Arabic – translated as Wherever It Falls) is a reflection of its time and environment. Recorded between Beirut in Cairo in 2014, it is a shape-shifting album that twists and turns when you least expect it. From the lead track Holako (Hulagu) – featuring a poem by late Iraqi poet Sargon Boulus  (1944-2007) rendered into song for the first time – the band immediately reveal their intention. Louca’s gritty electronic percussion melds with Allami’s rhythmic oud, and builds until the explosion of a driving rhythmic section, backing Abu Ghazaleh’s frenzied Buzuq, leads to a cinematic climax of soaring strings and raging drums.
  The startling synergy of these five musicians is retained throughout the album with the effortless and hypnotic groove of Farran’s bass in Yalla Tnam (Lullaby) leading the sparse yet tense homage to insomnia, until the song reaches its sparkling and colourful heights just as the protagonist is about to finally reach his slumber. While a fiery sermon rages in Al-Khutba Al-Akhira (The Last Declamation) as the tumult of Yassine’s acoustic percussion give way to Louca’s piercing synths, intertwining with Abu Ghazaleh’s potent diction.
  From the melancholic beauty of Dars Min Kama Sutra (A Lesson From Kama Sutra) – which features the tantalising verses of renowned late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) – to the majestic and surreal album-closer Eish Jabkum Hon? (What Brings You Here?), penned by the band’s own Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, each track bursts with rhythmic drive and fervour. The band’s wide ranging influences along with their unified and intriguing energy, give birth to a soundscape that is at once familiar and unknown.
  Mixed by Ali Chant of Toy Box Studios, Bristol, UK (P.J. Harvey, Rokia Traore, Yann Tierson, Gruff Rhys, John Parish) and mastered by John Dent of Loud Mastering, UK (Bob Marley, Nick Drake, Yann Tiersen, Massive Attack, Nick Cave), Aynama-Rtama traces a complex labyrinth of genres, sounds and emotions, rendered as a unique postcard of the tumultuous rollercoaster-ride of its time.
  The album is adorned in artwork featuring a painting by Syrian-Lebanese visual artist Semaan Khawam. His colourful and surreal paintings combined with original typography by Egyptian designer Salma Shamel perfectly compliment the complexities latent in Alif’s music and lyrics. All editions will also feature new English translations of the poems and lyrics by Nariman Youssef.
  It will be available on CD, black & limited edition red coloured 12” Vinyl LP and download, including Mastered for iTunes and lossless high-definition 24-bit/96kHz audio files, the first time for a production from the Arab world.
Digital pre-orders are available via iTunes with the album’s lead track Holako (Hulagu) offered as an immediate download.

CD & LP pre-order: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003preorders

Tracklisting
01 – Holako (Hulagu)
02 – Dars Min Kama Sutra (A Lesson from Kama Sutra)
03 – Al-Juththa (The Corpse)
04 – I’tiraf (Confession)
05 – Al-Khutba Al-Akhira (The Last Declamation)
06 – Yalla Tnam (Lullaby)
07 – Watti Es-Sawt (Keep It Down)
08 – Eish Jabkum Hon? (What Brings You Here?)
 “[A] coiled energy and rhythmic drive propel the pieces with a level comparable to a fully electrified outfit, offering proof that the same degree of excitement can be reached via lower volume and sheer acoustic attack.”  – THE WIRE 
“A night where you are introduced to musicians in a new context can obviously go either way. In the case of Alif, it was an education we’re glad to have been given.” –  THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE 
“[A] rare, powerful moment of melody and dissent, dialogue and solitude, an echo of the flickering realities of the region – and the search for meaning in times of upheaval.” – THE NATIONAL 
 

“Alif succeed at presenting a musical experience that goes beyond conventional genre framing, to create an identity found in neither Arabic nor Western realms, without falling in the ubiquitous trap of literal fusion.” – Raseef 22 (translated from Arabic)

“[T]he initial dizzying, and even melancholic, effect of Alif’s music stems from band’s attempt to alienate the mainstream. This estrangement is ushered by the instrumentation more than the melody, creating a feeling that the band’s members are dangerously adventurous on the verge of major change.” – Ma3azef (translated from Arabic)

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