Multi-instrumentalist trio Ishtirak, performing their single "master wasentha" from the debut self-titled album, released on Beirut-based label Thawra Records.
Download & stream the full album: www.thawrarecords.com/ishtirak-lp
Ishtirak:
Samah Boulmona - Lead Synthesizers
Jeremy Thal - French Horn, Synthesizers & Electronics
Dylan Greene - Drums
Extract from the Ishtirak Album Release Concert, presented by Thawra Records & Frequent Defect.
Filmed on May 18th 2024 at Mkalles Warehouse in Beirut, Lebanon.
Videography by Joya Simon & Charbel El Khoury
Video editing by Samer Etienne El Chami
Audio Recording courtesy of Frequent Defect
Audio Mixing by Samer Etienne El Chami & Dylan Greene
Release Info:
“A Sonic Uprising in the Shadow of Unending Disaster''
With a powerful sound and stage energy, resonant with that of the Comet is Coming, Maryam Saleh, and Taxi Kebab, the multi-instrumentalist trio Ishtirak prepare to release their debut self-titled album on the 13th of May, 2024 on Lebanese label Thawra Records.
In Arabic, Ishtirak means communication, participation, or subscription. In Lebanon, Ishtirak refers to that strong two-phase electricity cable that connects you to the closest privately run generator, which are usually controlled by neighborhood gangsters.
An 8-track opus of sizzling synth-infused Acid Jazz with flavors of Arabic Maqam, Progressive Rock, and Leftfield Electronic, the album was improvised and performed by the trio composed of Dylan Greene, Samah Boulmona and Jeremy Thal - on live Drums & Percussion, an original Alpha Juno II Synthesizer, French Horn, Melodica and a half-busted OP-1 - on a hot and sticky July weekend in 2021, in a post-covid and post port-explosion Beirut.
Produced in collaboration with Lebanese veteran musician Etyen, the LP is an electrifying and bold body of work, embodying the idea of collaboration and coming together to resist and persist. Ishtirak is a kind of journal entry; a sonic picture of the internal and external environment of Beirut at the time, that is as ever relevant today. With this first release, the trio announce and power a sonic uprising in the shadow of unending disaster, with a loud and thunderous clap-back at those that want to turn off the lights.
“For a brief moment, the entire future was contained in my mind in the form of a lightning flash that illuminates the enormity of the unknown.” - Ghassan Kanafani