Rayess Bek & Joan Baz

»Chayyel« – ePhil

Joan Baz & Rayess Bek
Joan Baz & Rayess Bek © Carolin Windel
  • Doors open 20:30

  • Start 21:30

Dance on the Roof

Since 2023, the Dabke dance has been listed as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In Lebanon, too, it is an integral part of every wedding, public holiday or family celebration and is deeply rooted in tradition. In his latest project, the Lebanese musician Waël Koudaih, also known as Rayess Bek, breathes new life into this dance and brings it into the present day with the help of synthesisers.

For the project, Rayess Bek has recorded well-known musicians who have sung and played familiar songs for him. During the concert, he will place these recordings in a new context through distortions and overlays. To complement this, artist and designer Joan Baz will transform the concert into an immersive experience with an impressive video show.

Incidentally, »dabke« translates as »stamping one’s feet on the ground« and alludes to the possible origins of this line dance: when many people in the region that is now Lebanon lived in mud-brick houses, the inhabitants had to climb onto the roofs at regular intervals to compact the loose mud. To do this, they would line up and stamp around on the roof in set rhythmic patterns – a practice from which the traditional dabke is believed to have evolved.

Performers

Rayess Bek live electronics

Joan Baz video-montage

Rima Ben Brahim lighting design

Programme

»Chayyel«
Traditional dabke music and dance reimagined in a contemporary form
An audiovisual and electronic improvisation

Series

ePhil

Festival

Lebanon

Promoter: HamburgMusik

Supported by the Freundeskreis Elbphilharmonie + Laeiszhalle e. V.

During your visit

Elbphilharmonie Plaza

A public viewing platform on the 8th floor of the Elbphilharmonie

More about the Plaza

Food and Drink

Before the concert and in the interval

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Coughing, clapping, chatting

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