Electro Tarab: Hello Psychaleppo & Boshoco

Raqs presents Electro Tarab with Hello Psychaleppo (live) and Boshoco (DJ set).

Tarab is a state of sensory interaction sought by the singer and the performer to make the listeners interact in their mind, soul and body, it's the ecstatic feeling associated with listening to Maqams and microtonal music.

Hello Psychaleppo
Hailing from one of the most mystical and musically rich cities in the Levant. Hello Psychaleppo is deeply rooted in Arabic music tradition, captivating listeners with melodic strains of Tarab threaded seamlessly together with the convoluted sounds of electronic music. Hello Psychaleppoʼs compelling visual presentation is integral to the live experience that engages the soul and moves the body. Hello Psychaleppo is the brain child of Aleppian music producer and visual artist Samer Saem Eldahr.

Hello Psychaleppoʼs first album 'Gool Lʼah' released in 2013 pioneered the music genre of Electro-Tarab and gained a credible following. The album was the first of its kind, combining Arabic music theory and rhythms with electronic music tools and sounds creating a harmonious blend that is Electro-Tarab. VICE Magazine described the music as, “A pastiche of twitchy electronic sounds and golden age Arab pop music of the 1950s and 60s. It is alternately danceable and cathartic, melancholic and apocalyptic. Itʼs Massive Attack meets Abdel Halim Hafez.”

Boshoco
Boshoco is a taste from childhood, a sound that evolves with moods, a clash of contrasts like cities passed by.

Nihad Alabsi and Philippe Zarif, two musicians from Aleppo city, keeping their roots but learning to fly, proposing a journey made to bring joy through dance: the sublime natural high known in Arabic as "saltaneh".

Raqs is an event organizing group aiming to support talents and create full musical, visual and atmospheric experiences for art appreciators. "Raqs" is an Arabic word that in English means "dance", we believe that whether it is letting go completely, swaying with the sounds or the dance of your heart and stomach when experiencing beauty, dance had been essential in human ways of interaction since way back. We find pleasure in creating -with the help of many more- mind, guts and body dance.

This programme has been made possible by Stichting Pera.