Lineup

						Aufgang

This is the dawning of a new era for Aufgang! This album is a unique and varied experience highlighting the leanings of its creators, who have decided to take us on a colourful and emotional magic journey breaking down the barriers be- tween the East and the West.

Aufgang was born from the successful alliance of two strong personalities, two opinionated panthers whose partnership has allowed them to reach a perfect balance. (short) (more about the artist)

Songwriter and pianist Rami Khalife transcends both the tra- ditional training he received as a student at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York and his Eastern roots – he grew up in a family of musicians and his father is a major artist in the Arab world.

Drummer and producer Aymeric Westrich is an adept of DIY culture and brings along his knowledge of urban and elec- tronic cultures, which he developed alongside artists such as Kery James, Cassius and Phoenix to name but a few.

After doing research and lab work for a year in studios in Paris, Beyrouth and New York, the duo is back with a feast of new and eclectic sounds.

Just like great chefs would, Aymeric and Rami have looked for inspiration in various artistic trends such as the disco sound of legendary Larry Levan or the poetry of Oum Kalthoum.

Aufgang are free independent spirits whose tunes are each built on a script inspired by their cosmopolitan lives, in reac- tion to the frenzy of big cities, as if they wanted to prevent the latter from eating their freedom away.

With this album, they have taken a surprising futuristic and euphoric pop turn without giving up their hybrid and sophis- ticated musical roots.

						ABBY

ABBY’s music is indeed a hot hybrid, at times evincing traces of Talk Talk, at others of ’70s psychedelia. But much more dominant is their self-painted present – what Lore calls “patterns”: they adapt the idea, not the implementation. So, for instance, Steve Reich’s repetitions can be found in ABBY’s music too, except instead of sounding like New Music, thanks to the repetition of interesting musical figures, the model of the pop song gets such a refreshing overhaul that the music starts to follow us around like a friendly ghost.

The band describes it like this: “We all grew up with very different musical backgrounds. We talk about this, and it all goes into our music. If one of us is obsessed with the melancholic poetry of Arvo Pärt, while another is completely crazy about Steve Reich’s stoic repetitions, and we all smile blissfully to Jamie xx in the morning at Berghain’s after-hour party, then for us these are all patterns and elements that turn up sooner or later in our music – which today, by the way, has so many more electronic elements in it than we would have ever thought possible.”

The hexagon – just think of honeycombs – is the most stable shape in nature. The album “Hexagon” by Berlin band ABBY starts with a guitar motif that for a brief moment evokes The Doors’ “The End” (and so too the opening sequence of Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now”), before an undertow of music sucks us in and we drift away – an experience we haven’t had for a long time.

						Alif

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 for “Wherever It Falls”) is a reflection of its time and environment. Recorded between Beirut and 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 gives way to Louca’s piercing synths, intertwining with Abu Ghazaleh’s potent diction.

						Postcards

Postcards is a folk rock band based in Beirut, Lebanon that has been thriving on the new wave of upcoming bands in the Middle East.

Influenced by traditional and contemporary American and English folk with lush and dreamy undertones, their music is likened to atmospheric dream pop.

						(OMMM)

Charbel Haber (Scrambled Eggs, Malayeen, Omarchestra, Johnny Kafta Anti-vegetarian Orchestra) and Fadi Tabbal (Scrambled Eggs, Incompetents, Omarchestra, Tunefork Stu- dios) team up with Pascal Semerdjian and Marwan Tohme (..No, Just Your Face!, Postcards) to perform a set composed for different guitar bowing technics and reduced drum set, cele- brating the smell of cold tobacco, cheap after shave, eternal sunsets and surfer suicides.

						La Mirza & Rayess Bek

« Love and Revenge » is a musical and visual performance by Wael Kodeih & Randa Mirza that aims to give a second life to old Arabic popular songs and make them ours by adapting them to the patterns and aesthetics of today’s music. The goal of this creation is to introduce Arabic traditional music to a new audience, whether Arab- speaking or not, as well as to a new generation of young listeners.

Kevork Keshishian, aka DIAMOND SETTER, started his music career as a DJ on Beirut’s dance scene, playing in some of the city’s most renowned clubs and venues, and was a resident DJ at notorious club The Basement.
In parallel to his DJ’ing activities, Diamond Setter holds an impressive track record in the field of electronic remixes and production. Some of his remixes & bootlegs include tracks by Gossip, Nina Simone, Abe Duque, jose gonzalez, Justin Timberlake, Adele, Faithless...

In 2010, DIAMOND SETTER started experimenting by sampling field recordings, sound from film and the recorded works of various local experimental musicians. In 2011 he started a post-punk project called Spoils & Servants, writing, singing, playing and recording all the instruments in his home studio.

The project has taken on a more organic bent, with the addition of session players including guitar, bass and drums.
In 2013, DIAMOND SETTER won a gold medal at jeux de la francophonie for audio visual, where he produced the music for the visuals created by VJ Mosig & Ziad Filfili.

DIAMOND SETTER had various collaborations with renowned Artists such as JAW from the french trio dop, Cosmic Cowboys & Till Von Sein.

Since 2014, DIAMOND SETTER holds residency at the award winning best rooftop “40Kong” and one of the best beach clubs “EDEN” in Dubai.

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In addition to the concert on Sunday, the festival will host artists, non-profit organizations and independent individuals to showcase projects revolving around sustainability, art and activism.

As well as its off festival program on Saturday 12.