Sandy Chamoun - Fata17 (Not on Label, 2022)
The marvellous ‘Nas el Wahel’, previously featured on the ‘Beirut Adrift’ compilation, now turns out to have been a tastemaker for Sandy Chamoun’s debut album ‘Fata17’. Only three tracks, but a whole story, dealing with the euphoria and disillusionment of the 17th of October revolution. Including the ensuing recession, the severity of which still seems to be seeping through. The drama unfolding in Lebanon since then is the inspiration for Sandy Chamoun’s artistic ingenuity in ‘Fata17’. She extracts the sounds on which she builds her tracks from video footage taken during the many demonstrations in Beirut that lasted for more than five months. Drawing sonic inspiration from social unrest in other countries such as Iraq and Chile, she connects the global discontent against fraudulent and all-consuming neo-liberalism. A powerful statement, almost overshadowed by the beauty of the songs. Her lyrics are poetic and fatalistic. Musically, she balances between old and new, between experimentation and sonic grandeur, between electronica and the old-fashioned hugging feel of Arabic classics. Fata17’ is a beautiful sonic document of an intense period of hope (‘Ahlam al khayal’), dreams (‘Nas el Wahel’) and the darkness that followed (‘Soukoun Mouwesh’). In just three songs, Sandy Chamoun works her way up to become one of the most memorable names on the experimental and electronic singer-songwriter scene. Things are brewing in Beirut. While the country is going to pieces, an experimental sound artist is emerging who, as if working with video images, extracts sound from images and adds her own voice. A contemporary artist in her own right, who sings about the country and Beirut, without a big orchestra, but who manages to create a sound that is as captivating as it is powerful.
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