{"id":28824,"date":"2013-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/28824\/tripping-on-tarab-with-hello-psychaleppo"},"modified":"2023-08-14T10:44:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T10:44:01","slug":"tripping-on-tarab-with-hello-psychaleppo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/28824\/tripping-on-tarab-with-hello-psychaleppo\/","title":{"rendered":"Tripping on Tarab with Hello, Psychaleppo!"},"content":{"rendered":"With cutting-edge technology at their fingertips, most music producers in the Arab world strive to achieve the most futuristic, digitally synthesized sounds their software is capable of. But one Beirut-based artist of Syrian origins has something else in mind. Hello, Psychaleppo! takes a look back at the timeless sound of Tarab and puts a psychadelic spin on it .


(Photo via Facebook<\/a>)

Hello, Psychaleppo!<\/a> is the brainchild of Zimo, a 25-year-old Syrian musician who graduated from the University of Aleppo with a degree in fine arts. He relocated to Beirut last year, and continued working on a series of experimental electronic compositions which would eventually form his debut album under the Hello, Psychaleppo! moniker. As Zimo himself recalls, \u201cThe first album wasn’t that serious, I was just playing around at home. This is the product of two years of work, just working for myself. And I wasn’t planning on releasing it [because of how personal the project is].\u201d

Yet despite that initial reluctance, Zimo released his music online<\/a> and marked his debut into the local scene during a live performance at Metro Al Madina last November. \u201cThere were no expectations at all, it was just an album I was releasing,\u201d says Zimo, who held quite the casual attitude toward his musical work at the time, that is, until he witnessed the response to it. \u201cAfter the gig, Metro Al Madina were like ‘come and play more if you want, we like what you did,’ so I began planning the second album.\u201d

Almost a year later, the second Hello, Psychaleppo! album, titled Gool L\u2019Ah<\/i>, is set for release with a whole new sound, technical approach, and overall spirit. The album\u2019s title says it all, Zimo explains: \u201c’Gool L\u2019Ah’ is Arabic for ‘Say Ah,’ and mainly in Tarab, you say ‘ah!’ (comparable to the English \u201cyeah!\u201d) when you hear a good mawwal (the poetic Arabic vocalization that precedes the musical segment of a Tarab piece), it expresses what the album\u2019s all about.\u201d

As you may have guessed, this collection of tracks sees Zimo referring to elements of the classic Tarab sound and twisting them around to fabricate experimental hybrid compositions, fusing the old with the new.


(Photo via Facebook<\/a>)

\u201cI love old Arabic Tarab songs. It\u2019s really fun actually to go from something very old and to play with it. I really enjoy it,\u201d explains Zimo. On the current vibe of the album, he remarks, \u201cThe sounds are richer. I focused more on manipulating samples to make very powerful energetic music. I didn’t do much sampling in the older material.\u201d

Last time he took to the stage, Zimo was pretty nonchalant about the whole affair, but this time around, the artist is really looking forward to the big reveal: \u201cUp until now, all the feedback has been great. People are loving the music, but I don\u2019t know what kind of feedback I\u2019m gonna get after this release. I\u2019m excited.”