SANAM

Reihe: Reconstructing Song

SANAM, a sextet from Beirut’s thriving experimental art scene, navigates the boundaries between song, ritual, and freer forms. Invited by the Irtijal Festival to collaborate with Faust musician Hans Joachim Irmler, the band found a unique momentum in this encounter: A wild vortex that transcends musical genres—cosmic rock and post-punk, free improvisation and electronic textures, Egyptian folk songs and modern Arabic poetry collide and ignite. Shaped by the intense pressure weighing on Lebanese society, SANAM sounds both urgent and otherworldly.

Following their internationally acclaimed debut Aykathani Malakon, SANAM refine their musical language on the new album Sametou Sawtan (“I Heard a Voice,” 2025), telling stories of closeness, distance, and displacement - the feeling of being both inside and outside at the same time. The result is music that eludes unambiguous interpretation—and gains a peculiar clarity in doing so:.Taking pause, following distant voices, reorientation through listening.