After hearing his amazing modular / ney flute / vocal track 'Yemen Türküsü' for the 'To Yemen With Love' compilation, I became interested in recording something with Cengiz Arslanpay. Our first collaboration was with British composer Robin Rimbaud on a remix entitled 'Stop The War'. And now we have a second recording together, entitled 'Yek Nefes', which freely translates as "In The Same Breath". (Michel Banabila, May 2021)

Cenigiz Arslanpay: ney flute
Michel Banabila: balafon & sampler

Yek Nefes

buy at bandcamp

with Cengiz Arslanpay: Yek Nefes

Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels [mastered MP3]

Mayssa Jallad - Mudun

Track 4

@SaintAbdullah & @Eomac rekindle their longstanding collaboration in this fiery new release sourced from the multiple cultural references and personal stories of its producers.

In their third installment entitled “Light meteors crashing around you will not confuse you”, the New York-based Iranian-Canadian siblings Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh aka Saint Abdullah & Wicklow-based Irish producer Ian McDonnell aka Eomac continue their exploration of sounds and rhythms through an expansive use of sampling and heavy distorted beats. Passionately curious about diverse vocal and musical cultures as well as their own, the trio began their long-distance collaboration in 2019, releasing their first two albums, “Patience of a Traitor ” (Other People) and “Chasing Stateless” (Planet Mu) in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The trio recorded the album as the world witnessed the genocide on Gaza, Mohammad notes that all tracks were “recorded within a few weeks in October after the war broke out as we tried to keep our heads above water.” The sound of Saint Abdullah is characterized by a keen interest to challenge cultural perceptions and expectations of diasporic narratives, by foregrounding sounds, field recordings, and sacred and profane music from the multiple worlds they belong to. They pay homage to the distinct influences, however sonically and culturally disparate, that have permeated their records and musical process so far. Together with Eomac, they continue a conversation shaped by their ever-growing sonic heritage and shared musical affinities. The inclusion of field recordings for example, often personal ones, are not ornamental but are integral parts of the whole album in which vocal samples are both used in moments of release or through thrusts of heavy beats, continually mirroring a state of unease.…

Reflecting on the recording process, Eomac notes that: “There is a strong influence and inspiration from hip-hop culture here. The beat-tape in particular. It’s rough, raw; rhythms are direct and not overthought. The beats are heavy and distorted for the most part, often shifting and changing throughout a single track. This brings an intentional “ungroundedness” to the record and a sense of tension.” Echoing this state of unsteadiness, Mohammad writes in a poem during the recording: “Those in the diaspora, are those that have left their home, by force, by will, somewhere in between. Are we the connective tissue that makes things more interesting?” Tracks like 'Bitch, I am Islam’ and ‘Rocknrallah’ relieve some of the sense of disorientation but are no less poignant. In the former, 'Bitch, I am Islam', Mohammad uses old personal recordings of his sisters reciting the Quran or repeating Iranian revolutionary chants like “War war, until victory”, an acknowledgment of the worlds they left behind and the ones that need building. In ‘Rocknrallah’ Abdel Ja7eem Hafeth sings a rendition of the 1933 American standard tune ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’ only to evoke the smoke coming out of Gaza.

The record also features fellow Iranian artists in the diaspora, musician and sound artist based in Paris Cinna Peyghamy and club experimentalist Aria Rostami. Ian Bruner, who worked on the album’s artwork, created a composite of the different elements and motifs that form the album, an image of arduous travel towards the mirage of Americana. In this historic period of grief and anger, ‘Light meteors crashing around you will not confuse you’ musically and conceptually engages world systems and beliefs through the experiences and stories of its producers.

—Rayya Badran

All proceeds UNRWA

Produced by Saint Abdullah & Eomac Featured Artists: Cinna Peyghamy, Aria Rostami, Abdel Ja7eem Hafeth Mastered by Rashad Becker Art by Ian Bruner

DBL24DL

Light meteors crashing around you will not confuse you

Saint Abdullah & Eomac - The people who initiate a new world

A March 2024 mix for Radio AlHara in Palestine

A collaboration between Stefan Christoff and Forward Music in Halifax.

Graphic is from V Adams & andrea ene from Justseeds artists' cooperative care package # 2 to support Palestine which you can find here:

https://justseeds.org/graphic/palestine-will-be-free-graphic-care-package-2/

Track listing 
(artist name / track name)

01. Isador, Suspense Jam
02. Motherhood, Handbreak
03. Motherhood, Shuttered Down
04. Best Fern, World Spins
05. Joshua Van Tassel, Smiles Displaced 
06. Nico Paulo, Time
07. Motherhood, Wandering
08. Isador, Nilsson Groove
09. Özgür Atlagan - Great Looters
10. Open to the Sea - That Room for the Second Death in the Family
11. Open to the Sea - The Room Behind the Secret Door
12. Samsona, Atletas
13. Vic Mars, Pen Y Fan
14. Zyggurat, Broken Circle
15. Alessandro Adelio Rossi - Lunedì mattina

Forward Music + Spirodon mix for Radio Alhara راديو الحارة

This program is curated by Ondas Representative, Dubby. It features artists, both well-known and unknown, with a unique aesthetic from a wide range of genres that used to be available at Ondas. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/ideala/episodes/ideala-10th-march-2024

ONDAS W/ MAS aka SENJU-FRESH! 100324

A monthly collection of blurred collage, aural experiments, and tonal in-betweens with sound artist and musician Felisha Ledesma. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/felisha-ledesma/episodes/felisha-ledesma-23rd-march-2024

Felisha Ledesma w/ Doris Dana 230324

Voices for Palestine - Open eyes for Gaza

Airing on Radio AlHara
March 31, 2024 12-6pm Palestine time
Original artwork for this broadcast created by Helena Nehme, film photos taken by Ricky Leach.

Full track listing outline here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K88hpBa7_gI3ofvW7N_0v-Y1feA8dYWT8YrENwn6u3I

This mix is an experiment of sounds patched together to express urgent solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza. Throughout this mix are original interviews, never before broadcast, of people actively working, creating and organizing in different corners of the world to support the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Also we hear original mixes and musical contributions. 

All the works you hear on this broadcast were shared with permission, either the individual songs, interviews or mixes all listed in link above.

Thanks for listening, please share this with a friend and keep supporting Radio AlHara!

Love and solidarity, – Stefan Christoff.

Open eyes for Gaza

Tonight, you can listen to the 14th episode of 'Feeding the Gentry' with Use Knife on @RadioalHara. The tracks in this episode are thematically linked to our recently released remix EP, Peace Carnival. Carnival's usual satire and mockery should be directed towards the so-called one-sided definition of 'peace'. The tracks oscillate between anger, hope, great worries, and cynical thoughts, starting off with Hang Youth asking (for those of you who don't understand Dutch) if it wouldn't be better to try to structurally fix things instead of all these "probably very good charities", and ending with "We Shall Overcome," a song of hope and resistance across the world.

00:00 Hang Youth - ER ZIJN VAST GOEIE GOEIE DOELEN
00:24 Saint Abdullah & Eomac - Pretense Of Neutrality
03:34 Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile
06:49 Use Knife feat. Radwan Ghazi Moumneh - To Feed the Gentry (Rabih Beaini edit)
15:53 E-Saggila - Throw The Stone And Hide Your Hand
22:48 Grand Kalle - Indépendance Tchatcha
25:50 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - (What's So Funnay 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
29:18 Factory Floor - Ya
36:20 Pisitakun - ReReLiLiGion GMO MURTAD (Gabber Modus Operandi Remix)
40:49 Jerusalem in my Heart (w/Mayss, Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui & Raed Yassin) - Qalaq 9
42:38 Einsturzende Neubauten - Kollaps
50:38 Authentically Plastic - Aesthetic Terrorism
54:28 Crass - You're Already Dead
58:42 Charlie Haden & Liberation Music Orchestra - We Shall Overcome

EP Design by Jef Cuypers
Arabic Lettering by Farah Fayyad

@radioalhara
www.radioalhara.net/
www.instagram.com/radioalhara/
https://www.instagram.com/useknifeofficial/
https://linktr.ee/useknife

'Feeding the Gentry' w/ Use Knife on Radio alHara Ep 14 - Peace Carnival

This mix slides from melanchlic to hopeful to enthusiastic feelings with some jamz from the global south.
 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/metamorphosis-2024/episodes/metamorphosis-2024-mixed-feelings-w-inway-18th-april-2024

MIXED FEELINGS W/ INWAY 180424

This mix plays out the metamorphosis of a piano tone into ever changing, rippling waveforms. Featuring lots of ambient soundscapes, spoken word, broken melody and a pinch of psychedelia, which will hopefully transport the listener through different states and emotions.
 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/metamorphosis-2024/episodes/metamorphosis-2024-ripples-w-elle-21st-april-2024

RIPPLES W/ ELLÈ 210424

Michel Banabila, born 1961, is a sound artist, composer, and producer. Banabila has released music since 1983 and has produced musical scores for numerous films, documentaries, theatre plays and choreographies. His music varies from minimal loop-based electronica, fourth world, and neoclassical pieces, to drones,  experimental ambient,  and punk-as-fuck tape music. His work have been released  internationally by labels like Bureau B (DE), Eilean Rec (FR), Knekelhuis (NL), Pingipung (DE) and Séance Centre (CA)

with Cengiz Arslanpay: Yek Nefes

Michel Banabila

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