A Closer Listen
The Shalabi Quintet‘s Artists Against Apartheid, Montréal Session documents a two-part live session from the Suoni per il Popolo festival recorded on Friday, June 5th, 2015. This recording will finally be released in February 2022 by AOsmosis Records (Germany) as the 4th entry of the Terminal Handshake series on tape (73 copies) and digital. To celebrate this long awaited release, the label has commissioned several remixes made over the course of 2021.
A CLOSER LISTEN is happy to premiere “Vitrola Era,” a remix by Nick Schofield created from both parts of the live recording. It is included on the B-side of the tape as well as the download version where it is accompanied by two additional remixes (by Joni Void and Joël Lavoie).
The Shalabi Quintet was assembled by Sam Shalabi (Shalabi Effect, Land of Kush, Dwarfs Of East Agouza), who plays oud and synth on these recordings. He is joined by Shalabi Effect and Land of Kush bandmates Anthony von Seck on electric guitar and Will Eizlini on tabla. Rounding out the rhythm section is bassist Mark Haynes, a versatile songwriter and session musician known for his work at Flyte Tyme Studios in Minneapolis. Finally, Shalabi’s frequent collaborator Stefan Christoff (Rêves Sonores, Anarchist Mountains) plays organ.
Christoff explains that this recording was “a part of the Artists Against Apartheid concert series in support of Palestinian human rights,” a cause the group remains active in, most recently as supporters of the Musicians for Palestine campaign. The show was recorded by Nick Scholfield (Rêves Sonores), who hosts Underground Sounds on the venerable Montreal community radio station CKUT 90.3 FM. The live event was held at La Vitrola, a venue in the Suoni family that sadly closed in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic, a loss perhaps signalled by the title of Scholfield’s remix. The Shalabi Quintet‘s Artists Against Apartheid, Montréal Session will be available in February 2022.
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All live photographs by Heri Rakotomalala (photo gallery of live event).
Sun Dec 05 00:01:42 GMT 2021