- Release date:
- 05.06.20
- Released by:
- Crammed Discs
- Published by:
- Les Editions de la Bascule, Strictly Confidential
Emerging from the vibrant Palestinian electronic music scene, ZENOBIA وبيازن have made a big impression over a short period of time: the band started performing a couple of years ago, and has already toured around the globe.
ZENOBIA’s music combines powerful beats, Levantine dabke rhythms and Arabic pop melodies. The band draw their inspiration from pop & folk music from all over the region (Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria). They refine their songs by taking them back and forth between their studio and the stage, where they improvise a lot, and feed off the audience reactions. The band consists of Nasser Halahlih and Isam Elias. The album is entitled Halak Halak (a slang expression meaning “Welcome, welcome”), it was recorded and mixed in the ZENOBIA’s studio in Shefa Amr. It’s the band’s second release, after the introductory EP Ksr Ksr Ksr. Halak Halak is being released on Acid Arab Records, the special imprint created by Crammed Discs in partnership with Parisian collective Acid Arab.
Like some crazy Kraftwerk of the Levant (The Guardian, UK)
I’d heard electronic takes on dabke before, [but] this was trippier and more seductive (Resident Advisor, UK)
A refined electronic sound, combining ethereal vibe and hard bass drums (Libération)
Densely hypnotic... announces the universal calling of Middle Eastern pop (Telerama)
