Boom boom
Ras-el-3abed Kalashnikovs
Shooting molasses at the masses
Sticky sticky masses
Waiving flags from everywhere but here
And somewhere in the heart of hamra
Maw3oud sits down under the last yasmine bush in the city
And plays the bee bop bee bop bee boom boom
Waiving decibels for the sticky sticky masses
His feet up on his pomegranate trolly
Why can’t I transliterate you back?
Fool. Durra. Fool. Durra. Fools. The whole lot.
Fools.
Sticky sticky fools.
Mashrouʼ Leila is not a bandʼs name. It is not a proper noun per se; Mashrouʼ Leila is Arabic for ʻan overnight projectʼ lusting out a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards. It started out as a music workshop at the American University of Beirut in 2008, an open platform for students of architecture and design, somewhere to experiment with sounds and make things audible. Haig Papazian, Carl Gerges, Hamed Sinno, Omaya Malaeb, Andre Chedid, Firas Abou Fakher and Ibrahim Badr have enjoyed this sound fetish savoring its façade of nonchalance and feeding on its lack of genre – sustaining their collective as Mashrouʼ Leila, an experiment.
You can hear Leila, cascading melts of masculine vocals only suspended with thrusts of violin, beats and bass – attacked by neurotic melody that means no harm – sometimes tender, even sometimes on pause. Through the music, you can smell where Leila has been, in bed sheets, on sidewalks, jasmines in rifles and spilled coffee on dresses as she made you play with aubergines, dancing her dance. Music has constantly been their place to play with things, to match and mis-match, a project.
In the various performances, Mashrouʼ Leila is a constant attempt to taste and produce, more than happy to harvest anyone from the audience as a guest in their encores. They have performed around Lebanon since 2008, playing in various venues in Beirut, taking over supposed public piazzas as well as clubs, pubs, hybrids and the such – they also played in Zahle, Sour, Jounieh, Saida and Deir el Qamar, each of which pushed forward their thinking about how to go about their music, lyrics and performance. It is only when Mashrouʼ Leila goes live, that you can actually catch a glimpse of Leila. As it talks to you of Beirut, the city that tastes of the absurd, the product of its day-to-day experiences, its stubborn security and lack of the latter, its musical bombshells, incoherent sexuality and thrusting pleasure…narcotic pain – as it brings forward hints of Arabic Tarab, rock, to folk pop, electro, you can see Leila in every man and woman in the silent- come-raving audience. In this trajectory, they participated in music workshops and concerts in Amman and Cairo to maneuver their way into a pan-Arab music scene, to know and to announce, more importantly to grow, musically.
In March 2009, Mashrouʼ Leila won the Lebanese Modern Music Contest jury prize and public vote organized by Radio Liban in partnership with CCF, Incognito and the Basement. They are currently recording their debut album with B-root Productions, to be released in December 2009. The music in the album is a reclamation of the aftertaste; sequel-ing a dose of Beirut.
written by Raafat Majzoub
To get hard copies and high-quality downloads of Halalwood click here
U-CEF Halalwood
First there was Hollywood…then Bollywood…and now…Halalwood, Morocco's first and foremost digitalizer's debut album for Crammed.
‘Halalwood’ is a tour-de-force which puts gnawa music, dub, sinuous classic Arabic arrangements for qanun, flute & violins, electronic beats, rappers & MCs, big drums & crunchy rock guitars in a giant blender to produce something fresh and original… U-Cef has all the legitimacy & inspiration needed to navigate between cultures, without any prejudices, disrespect or fear: Born and raised in Rabat, he absorbed much of his native Morocco's multiple traditions before moving first to New York and then to London, immersing himself along the way in the Western world's electronic & rock scenes. His first CD ‘Halalium’ (2001) was a milestone in Moroccan urban dance music, and has inspired a whole generation of rappers, b-boys and pro-tools adventurers, from Tangiers to Taroudant and Melilla to Marrakech.
Featuring an exciting cast of high-profile guests including Damon Albarn, Natacha Atlas, Rachid Taha, Mirror System (Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy), Oum Alright, UK Apache, Amina Annabi, Justin Adams and Moroccan rap duo Dar Gnawa.
MERCI POUR L'AJOUT CAMARADES MYSPACIENS ! " LA NUIT DU 31 MARS " Une chanson comme une mauvaise blague ... En écoute MAINTENANT sur notre page N'hésitez pas à nous envoyer vos commentaires !!!! En attendant ... Portez vous bien! ZONE NONO
Lucidinervi, nuovo cd con le collaborazioni di Franz Goria (Petrol), Paolo Benvegnu' e Guglielmo Ridolfo Gagliano, Paolo Archetti Maestri e Fabio Martino (Yo Yo Mundi), Umberto Palazzo (Santo Niente).
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