Farah Kaddour
Badā

Nadah El Shazly
Les Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas (OST)

Out: March 29th, 2024 on Asadun Alay Records (AAR2 / AAR3 LP/DL)

FARAH KADDOUR — WEB
NADAH EL SHAZLY — WEB
ASADUN ALAY RECORDS — BANDCAMP

Badā is the solo debut of Beirut’s Farah Kaddour, a gifted buzuq player, researcher and educator. Kaddour works in folk and classical Arabic music in ensembles while also playing a vital role in the vibrantly unclassifiable band Sanam, whose recent LP for Mais Um Discos was hailed by the Guardian as “blast[ing] to life with its mix of low-tuned guitar jams, industrial drums, and earthy vocals – an immersive collection of dark and spacious textures.” Badāis a personal and utterly virtuosic statement that interleaves improvisations, and both traditional and original compositions. As one of the very few solo buzuq recordings (especially on vinyl) this album is also noteworthy for the fact that female players of the instrument are so rare. Her vision of the buzuq honours its deep roots while interrogating its sonic possibilities; her unique sound on it is colourful and reflects her varied collaborative history. She plays with a robust, driving urgency, but this intensity is tempered (and even disrupted) by her immaculate sense of space and dynamics. Percussionist (and Oiseaux-Tempête collaborator) Ali El Hout joins on two cuts, weaving his agile-fingered work on the Persian daf right into the buzuq’s sonic core. Kaddour deftly moves between traditional and more modern modalities of playing, while always maintaining by her instrument’s rootedness to the folk musics of the Levant.

Cairo-based composer, producer and vocalist Nadah El Shazly‘s new record from Asadun Alay Recordsis her score from Fyzal Boulifa’s celebrated second film The Damned Don’t Cry (Les Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas). Featured at several esteemed film festivals, it garnered numerous awards and nominations. Among these honours were two for El Shazly’s music, le Prix de la Meilleure Musique Originale from the Bordeaux Film Festival, and a Dublin Critics Circle Award for Best Score at the Dublin International Film Festival, Ireland in 2023. The sombre atmospherics of El Shazly’s score contrast her arresting and colourful debut, Ahwar (2017) but its plaintive evocativeness is a testament to her enduring curiosity as an artist. Les Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas is a pared-down, largely instrumental affair that orbits a specific aural landscape. Effectively a series of chamber music vignettes, it’s mostly performed by a trio, featuring collaborators found on her previous recording, Sarah Pagé on harp and electronics, Jonah Fortune (Matana Roberts, A Silver Mount Zion, Land of Kush) on double bass, alongside violinist Nicolas Royer-Artuso. A veritable “pillar of the Egyptian underground” (in the words of the New Yorker’s Jenn Pelly) El Shazly has been programmed worldwide at festivals such as Irtijal, Le Guess Who?, REWIRE, Best Kept Secret, FIMAV, Roskilde, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Nusasonic, and Marfa Myths and was also featured on the cover of the Wire. In addition to her own stunning output, she has collaborated with a pool of innovative musicians, Mike Cooper, Land of Kush (many members of which appeared on Ahwar), Dwarfs of East Agouza, Mazen Kerbaj, Michael Zerang, Sharif Sehanoui, and many more.

Farah KaddourBadāNadah El ShazlyLes Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas (OST)

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Farah Kaddour
Badā

Nadah El Shazly
Les Damnés Ne Pleurent Pas (OST)