Khaled Mouzanar is a composer of Lebanese origins, who has composed numerous music for films (Beirut After Shave, Caramel, Where Do We Go Now) before embarking in 2007 in writing his first solo album, “Champs Arides”.
Mouzanar started music very young alongside great Armenian composer Boghos Gelalian. Many of his friends are fond of cinema and fare film makers, so he composed the music for their projects and learned to link sounds and pictures.
His musical influences are so intimately related to the 7th art, and although he grew up listening to the compositions of Bach, he readily admits having had a real artistic shock immersing himself in the compositions of Strauss in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Space Odyssey”. His inspiration is tinged with Western trends despite the frequent use of typical instruments of Lebanon, especially in the city where he composes his music, Beirut.
In an attempt of pursuing his passion for music, he began working for advertising clips. His first professional experience outside commercials turns out to be a short film by Hany Tamba “After Shave”, for which the music was nominated for the Lutin Short Film Festival. This was an opportunity for him to make his first peak, while revealing his method as a composer for films. He works with themes, not images, assembled directly from the script.
Mouzanar composed music for many films directed by Nadine Labaki, such as “Caramel” and “Where Do We Go Now”. His work takes root in basic Italian melodies (Morricone, Rota) as well as Lebanese legend, Fairuz. His compositions also flirt with tango through a thorough analysis of Astor Piazzolla, a composer who sought to make the tango universal and classic.
His first solo album, titled “Champs arides”, is written in French and edited by Naïve. Mouzanar says that he won by allowing himself to give in to the influences of folk, “song writing” and, inevitably, paid tribute to singers such as Serge Gainsbourg.
