On the day that Pope Leo visits Lebanon on the second leg of his first overseas trip as Catholic leader, the Beirut-based sextet SANAM are more than 2,000 miles away in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds on the first date of the English and Scottish legs of their current tour of Europe and the UK.
Lebanon has a long history of internal and regional conflicts. The Pontiff has urged Lebanese leaders to make peace their highest priority. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” were the opening words to his inaugural speech in the country.
SANAM come with their own message. It is one of unity, forged out of the economic, emotional, and existential chaos in their homeland, and is delivered through their collective voice and songs.
Their second album Sametou Sawtan arrived a few weeks ago courtesy of the ever-estimable Constellation Records. A thrilling galaxy where psychedelia, electronics, avant-jazz, and the experimental conjoin with traditional Egyptian song and modern Arabic poetry, the music is informed by darker themes of unsettlement, instability, uncertainty, and migration.
SANAM are Sandy Chamoun (vocals), Antonio Hajj (bass), Farah Kaddour (buzuq), Anthony Sahyoun (guitar, synth), Pascal Semerdjian (drums), and Marwan Tohme (guitars) and it is the exotic, sensual twang of Kaddour’s buzuq that announces the arrival of ‘Tatayoum,’ the first of half a dozen songs they will play from the new album tonight. It is compelling from the outset, drawing you into a transcendental web of sound over which Chamoun’s hypnotic voice ebbs and flows.
For an hour SANAM hold you in the thrall of their shape and genre-shifting sound. The mournful intonation of ‘Goblin’ is counterbalanced perfectly by the incessant urgency of ‘Sayl Damei,’ driven along by an open-ended rhythmic drumbeat redolent of Can’s great Jaki Liebezeit.
Just as they do on Sametou Sawtan, the songs ‘Hadikat Al Ams’ and ‘Hamam’ haemorrhage into each other creating a mesmeric blur of sublime imagination. The encore of a new song is both richly deserved and an absolute bonus, bringing to a close a concert of such sonic integrity and invention that continues to survive in what is a fast disappearing world.
Photos: Simon Godley
More photos from SANAM at The Attic in Leeds
