APLOMB is an improvisatory duo – the convergence of two unique voices, Marina Tantanozi on the flute and Andria Nicodemou on the vibraphone. Their story of music/life-making draws upon their shared love for improvisation and composition, and is bolstered by diverse musical vocabularies, from classical to experimental and eastern Mediterranean music. Their sound is vibrant, active, electric, taking unexpected turns. Flute and vibraphone produce tones that closely resemble sine waves, the purest vibrations in sound. Every timbre is a construction of sine waves beating against each other to produce a new wave form. The music of the duo is a gesture of breathing together, far from any aesthetic idea.

“A” Trio is Lebanon’s oldest Lebanese improvisation group. Formed in 2002 in Beirut during the Irtijal’s second annual Festival of Experimental Music, they went on to record the first free jazz CD to be produced in the Arab world (“A”, La CDthèque, 2003). Their music later moved away from its jazz roots towards a more textural approach, relying strongly on prepared and extended techniques for a heavy diversion of their respective instruments. After a decade of working together in trio and various other contexts, Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui and Raed Yassin have finally reached a very characteristic sound that has been fondly described as “textural swing.” Creative yet simple, acoustic yet powerful, their live performances are oftentimes playful and rely on a strong visual component.

Sary Moussa is an electronic musician who has been active in the Beirut underground scene since 2008. His latest record “Imbalance” (Other People, 2019) finds Moussa revisiting the soundscapes of his childhood; from the echoes of political unrest, to Greek-Catholic chants, and the quiet nights of a secluded Southern village. The album combines sound design with intricate melodic arrangements to create a choir of synthesizers and noise singing in and out of sync.