Lekhfa / Altin Gün - Barzakh Festival Day 2

“Lekhfa grasps the listener by their deepest, darkest emotions, inviting them into the album’s dystopic – albeit exhilarating – new world” – The Wire

Biographies

Lekfa
Maryam Saleh. A major creative force and a powerful voice for her generation, Egyptian singer and songwriter Maryam Saleh composes and performs music that is personal, political and contemplative. She released her monumental debut album Mesh Baghanny (eka3, 2012), after which she joined forces with Lebanese electro-pop pioneer Zeid Hamdan to release Halawella (Mostakell 2015). Known for her muscular, alluring vocals and charismatic stage presence, stemming from being brought up in the world of theatre by her late father, theatre critic, director and writer Saad Saleh. Maryam is also known for bringing the protest songs of Sheikh Imam back to life in new alternative forms through her band BarakA. She starred in many Egyptian films and TV series including Ibrahim El-Batout’s Eye of the Sun (2008) and Tamer El Said’s In the Last Days of the City (2016).

Maurice Louca. Inspired by many influences, from psychedelic to Egyptian shaabi, Maurice Louca’s second album Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Nawa Recordings, 2014) shattered the confines of musical and cultural labelling and was dubbed by many as a game-changer for the region’s bustling independent music scene. He went on to co-found the Dwarfs of East Agouza with Sam Shalabi and Alan Bishop, releasing their first album together to worldwide critical acclaim. Maurice is also a founding member of Alif, Karkhana and Bekya and he continues to compose for film, dance and theatre.

Tamer Abu Ghazaleh. A cross-genre composer, producer and a prolific collaborator born in Cairo to a Palestinian family, Tamer released his latest album Thulth (third), via Mostakell in 2016, earning him widespread attention for melding virtuosity with fierce experimentation in Arabic composition, songwriting and performance. In 2012 he co-founded the critically acclaimed alternative band Alif with Maurice Louca and Khyam Allami; produced Maryam Saleh’s debut album Mesh Baghanny in 2012; collaborated with Yacoub Abu Ghosh on his album As Blue as the Rivers of Amman in 2011; started the cross-genre group Kazamada in 2010 with Zeid Hamdan, Mahmoud Radaideh and Donia Massoud; released Thawret Ala’ (Revolution of Anxiety), a collaborative piece of musical theatre performed by Al-Tamye Theatre Group in 2008; worked with Palestinian and Egyptian artists on Jehar with Huda Asfour; collaborated in Duo Buzuq with Rabea Jubran and in Kalam Mazzika with Salam Yousry and performed on Khaled Jubran’s Psalms in 2005.

Altin Gün
On their debut album ‘On’ (Bongo Joe Records), the band show what happens when you open doors between Turkish folk songs which were passed on from generation to generation on the one hand and a dirty blend of funk rhythms, wah-wah guitars and analog organs on the other. The Amsterdammers come from various backgrounds (Turkish but also Indonesian and Dutch) and comfortably create their work in the adventurous no-man’s land that exists between these two worlds.

Older generations of Turkish musicians have also experimented with opening doors between previously unconnected sonic worlds. During the seventies, artists such as Baris Manço, Selda Bağcan and Erkin Koray practiced a way of songwriting and composing similar to Altin Gün’s.

Manço, Bağcan and Koray have all influenced Altin Gün, but their foremost inspiration is Neşet Ertaş, a Turkish folk musician whose musical legacy is invaluable. Comparisons are almost impossible to make but imagine someone with the same impact and status as Bob Dylan or George Gerschwin and you’re getting close. Many of the songs he wrote have become standards in Turkey, national treasures which are cherished up until the present day. Altin Gün retain the lyrical and thematic structure of Ertaş’s songs, though they often alter their time signatures and add fuzzy bass sounds, sweltering organ sounds and raw saz riffs. Ertaş wrote the majority of the songs on the album even if these are hardly recognisable after all the work Altin Gün have done on them.

Let Altin Gün open that door for you and get ready to indulge in their fresh and beautiful sound.

Altin Gün are:
Ben Rider (guitar)
Daniel Smienk (drums)
Jasper Verhulst (bass)
Merve Dasdemir (vocals)
Erdinc Yildiz Ecevit (saz, keys, vocals)
Gino Groenveld (percussion)

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There’s a place in the sea where salt and sweet water meet and coexist, but don’t dilute one another…barzakh. The two-day Barzakh Festival draws inspiration from this idea to create a meeting place of musical streams of genre-shattering artists from diverse cultures, whose global-minded music reflects multiple influences and recombinant identities.

“Barzakh Festival is the UAE’s widest celebration of global sounds since Womad Abu Dhabi shut up shop in 2010.” – The National