Label: Touch

重厚なエレクトリック・ネオフォーク!!音楽学者であり、現在は主に伝統的なアラビア音楽とエレクトリックミュージックの相互関係にフォーカスし曲作りを行う女性作家Youmna Saba。アラブ音楽にて"楽器の女王"と呼ばれるウードと電子音の合成を試みた2023年作[Wishah]を入荷。ウードのサウンドレンジを強化、共鳴やネック摩擦、更には演奏中に発生する微妙なサウンドも増幅したあまり類を見ない不思議な感覚の内容で、まさにアラビア音楽を凄い角度から昇華しています。マスタリングはStephan Mathieu、長方形のDVDパッケージ仕様。







Wishah ('Veil' in Arabic) is a composition in five stages, written by Youmna Saba between 2021 and 2022, for voice, oud and electronics.

Following her previous solo works Njoum (2014) and Arb’een (40) (2017), this album marks a significant turning point in Saba's journey. Created after leaving Beirut and settling in Paris, Wishah reveals a profound shift in her musical expression, informed by rigorous research in the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes and their role in shaping synthesised electronic sounds.

The album employs a digital extension for the oud, a concept developed by Saba in her research project Taïma’. This device enhances the oud's sonic range, seamlessly integrating synthesised electronics. It also amplifies subtle, often overlooked sounds generated during playing, such as resonances and fingerboard friction.

The composition is organised into five distinct stages, each contributing to a process of gradual revelation. As the tracks unfold, they strip away layers of constructed emotions and perceptions that have been intricately woven over time, to expose a space that no longer exists. Wishah is a farewell to home.

Youmna Saba (Beirut 1984) is a musician, composer and musicologist. Her current research focuses on instrument and space resonances in different sonic and musical contexts. With four albums to this date, she has collaborated with musicians of different musical expressions such as Kamilya Jubran, Floy Krouchi, Mike Cooper and the Neue Vocalsolisten ensemble, and has taken part in numerous artist residencies. She is the laureate of the first sound residency at Quai Branly Museum, Paris (2022-2023) with her research project and installation “La Réserve des Non-Dits”, now on view at the museum; and a laureate of the music residency program at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2020-2021).