Khaled Kurbeh

Likulli Fadāin Eqāéh لكلّ فضاءٍ إيقاعه [to each space its own rhythm] 2019–23

a landscape of ever amusing contradictions on unstretched canvas: – of predictable rhythms (day and night, high tide and low tide, routine and intuition, rent and bureaucracy) and unpredictable rhythms (good fortune, bad poetry, chance, mistakes and chaos).

Berlin-based Syrian musician Khaled Kurbeh makes his Research Records debut with Likulli Fadāin Eqāéh, a tapestry of soundscapes written, performed and recorded across four years as part of his practice muhawalāt [attempts, variations] and hawāmesh [margins]: an outlet of gestures, sonic footnotes and observations from the everyday.

Kurbeh’s first release in seven years departs from his largely acoustic debut, Aphorisms, a collaboration with oud player Raman Khalaf and ensemble with elements of maqām and jazz.

Likulli Fadāin Eqāéh offers a collection of 10 electroacoustic compositions – they’re brooding and experimental with hints of musique concrète. The tracklist implies a mapping or an itinerary. Field recordings of swallows and the snapping and un-shelling of sunflower seeds on interlude Nuzha I [Excursion I] are countered by sparse composition of low-end synth, harmonium, upright piano and prepared fender rhodes played with mallets on Darb I–II [Path I–II]. Patterns of cymbals and agitated bells appear on Jauqét Ajrās [Choir of Bells], while currents of bowed strings shiver and stutter on al-Ajrāf [The Cliffs]. The release captures four years of overlapping sonic wanders, finely balancing tensions of harmony and dissonance, stillness and resonance, texture and rhythm – recorded inside and outside.