SANAM Tickets

Pop Mutations & Mais Um present:
SANAM
plus special guests
Live at Stereo
Sunday 11th August
18+

SANAM's music is a ritual where improvised rock, free jazz and noise underscore an exorcism of traditional Egyptian song and Arabic poetry.

Sandy Chamoun (vocals), Antonio Hajj (bass), Farah Kaddour (buzuk), Anthony Sahyoun (guitar, synth), Pascal Semerdjian (drums) and Marwan Tohme (guitars) bring a myriad of influences gleaned from years performing either solo or as members of influential acts in Beirut’s tight-knit independent music scene (such as Al Rahel al Kabir, Postcards, Kinematik and Ovid).

SANAM formed following an invitation to perform with Hans Joachim Irmler from the legendary German experimental group Faust, at Beirut's Irtijal music festival in 2022.

The musicians had planned to reiterate their fortuitous experience with Irmler but when this plan fell through, they decided to go on a recording residency together instead in a traditional house in the village of Saqi Reshmaya, Lebanon. The recording of the album took place during a particularly difficult time in their native country of Lebanon, which continues to suffer from an unprecedented economic collapse as well as social and political unrest. “We decided to take eight days off in May 2022 in an effort to completely disconnect ourselves from Beirut” says Sahyoun, who also performs in post-rock outfit Kinematik.

During their residency, the musicians, who come from distinct musical styles and backgrounds, decided to record the full album live with no overdubs: “The musical direction for SANAM was set out by the improv sessions with Joachim," says Sahyoun. "We weren't looking at doing something specific, it ended up coming out as a weird mix between improvised rock, tarab/arabic song and ambient. Kind of putting different things in a blender (our different musical backgrounds) and never really letting them quite fuse together. Recounting the insular experience of recording this debut, Sandy Chamoun described it as “almost hallucinogenic, as if there was a tacit agreement among us to produce an album that sounded 'unearthly' ”.

Combining regional and local folklore and poetry with experimental forms of instrumental music are at the core of Aykathani Malakon. Chamoun, who chose the texts for this album and has performed in the Lebanese satirical music collective Al Rahel al Kabir, turned to modern and contemporary Arab writers and composers such as Lebanese poet Bassem Hajjar whose poem Aykathani Malakonlends the album its title and opening track, Paul Chaoul whose poem Chamoun recites in a state of ascending ecstasy in Ayouha Al-Taiin Fi Al-Mawt and the Egyptian composer Sayyid Darwish in the languorous Ya Nass that features prominently the buzuk played by Farah Kaddour. As Chamoun points out, the poetry or lyrics in the album constitute “a collective call for an escape from a hallucinatory state engendered by love but also the mysteries of life itself”.

In addition to authored texts, the album also includes famous folkloric songs such as Egyptian singer Abdel-Halim el Hazef’s Ana kol ma ‘oul et touba, which the band will release as their second single (renamed Bell), featuring the dreamiess and noise that comes from Marwan (member of Postcards) and the steady pulsating bass from Antonio (Ovid). Though its lyrics might be instantly recognized by listeners from SWANA, here SANAM attempt an act of exorcism, as Sahyoun describes it, by freeing the words from the form in which they usually are heard. Other tracks include a famous Palestinian wedding song entitled Oulo la Emmo (Tell his mother) in which a conversation between song and deconstructed drums is performed by Pascal Smerdjian (also a member of Postcards) as well as excerpts from religious Latmiyas — a set of rituals commemorating grief through poetry about the Battle of Karbala, typically performed by Shi’a muslims across Asia — in the sprawling and final track Ya Rih El Hab. Sanam introduces sparseness where there was once raucousness, inviting listeners to a transformed musical heritage that reflects the anxiety and uncertainty of the present.

For Sahyoun, it was important to “blend the ancient and modern texts together. We wanted to make the record as non-nostalgic as possible.” The words are sung in classical Arabic and not in the musicians’ Lebanese dialect, which is noteworthy because it is still uncommon among experimentalists in the region. The cadence and the manner with which Chamoun sings the poems and the religious rituals is in stark contrast with how they have been historically sung or recited.

"Beirut group Sanam’s debut record blasts to life with its mix of low-tuned guitar jams, industrial drums, and earthy vocals – an immersive collection of dark and spacious textures” The Guardian

Absolutely love this record, it's amazing”
Tom Ravenscroft, BBC 6Music

“A bit post punk and experimental and very, very interesting” Gilles Peterson

“A gritty blend of noise rock, ambient textures and Arabic forms that cast the traditional material in a visceral new context" The Wire