PRAED Orchestra! Live in Sharjah out 9 Nov via Morphine Records

October 20, 2020

DOSER040LP – Vinyl / Digital
Morphine Records – November 9th, 2020

Paed Conca: Clarinet, Electric Bass, Electronics

Raed Yassin: Synthesizers, Vocals, Electronics

Alan Bishop: Alto Saxophone, Vocals

Nadah El Shazly: Vocals, keyboard, Electronics

Christine Kazarian: Electric Harp

Hans Koch: Bass Clarinet, Soprano Sax

Martin Kuchen: Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Sax

Maurice Louca: Keyboard, Organ

Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: Buzuk, Vocals, Modular Synthesizer

Sam Shalabi: Electric Guitar, Oud

Ute Wassermann: Vocals, Mouth Harp, Whistles

Khaled Yassine: Drums, Percussion, Darbuka

Michael Zerang: Drums, Percussion

If you’ve ever traveled to Egypt and wandered through its crowded streets, you probably ended up buying a cassette or a CDR of popular synth-based music heard in most cabs, cabarets, or alleys around town: the almighty Shaabi.

Raed Yassin and Paed Conca based their project PRAED on the research between Shaabi and Mouled (traditional trance music from Egypt) and the hypnotic structures of both these genres. Repetitive beats, loud Mizmar and loads of energy, with a strong influence from psychedelic rock, free jazz and electronica.

During the years in which the duo produced four albums and performed on an endless number of stages around the globe, PRAED started working on an ambitious expansive project: an orchestra that could transpose this study of rural and popular culture into an immense, iconic work. In autumn 2018, supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation, PRAED Orchestra! premiered “Live in Sharjah”, interpreting new material merged with some of the band’s iconic pieces.

The composition process started with the choice of musicians: the line-up consisted of some of the most innovative artists coming from a wide spectrum of musical practices. Each musician was chosen for a defined role, and the common denominator was their capacity to interpret written material, and their ability to improvise effortlessly.

Each role was clearly set to work in unison with the rest of the group, while simultaneously sustaining a centrality in the choir. Solo parts masterfully drawn over the structure as a fil rouge connecting every piece of the entire concert; massive and powerful orchestral sections leading to a breathtaking trance-like state of mind; all of this material ultimately coalescing into an Egyptian Operette that narrates the sorrow, love, and deeply rooted culture of this urban music called Shaabi.

Tracklist

A- The Last Invasion

B- Doomsday Survival Kit

C- Mirage 72

D1- Embassy of Embarrassment D2- The Micro Dwarf Wave

E- The Spy Who Spoke Too Much

F- IL A3SAB

Credits

Recorded live at Calligraphy Square on November 3rd, 2018 in Sharjah UAE by: Sudish Suman & Shuaib Ahmad Poonthala

Edited by: Rabih Beaini at Morphine Studio, Berlin, Germany

Mixed by: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at Hotel2Tango Studio, Montreal, Canada

Mastered by: Harris Newman at Grey Market Studio, Montreal, Canada

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

SARAH@SIMSARA.ME / +44 (0) 7526704546

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Maurice Louca is playing a guitar in a dark room. Photo by Aalam Wassef

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