Wishah و​ِ​ش​ا​ح, by Youmna Saba

Wishah وِشاح

by Youmna Saba

supported by

scratchthewall This is incredible beautiful music!
This is my record of the year 2023!
Oud, some electronics and a female voice you'll never forget. If Clarice Lispectors word: ....music is the luxury of silence" is true, Youmna Saba got it.............

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$8 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition of 200 copies.
140gsm vinyl pressed at Microforum (Canada). Jacket printed on 20pt board with matt flood coating, with a 3.5mm spine and a white inner dust sleeve.
Design and photography by Jon Wozencroft (courtesy of Touch UK).

The CD version of "Wishah" was released by Touch UK in October 2023: touch333.bandcamp.com/album/wishah

Vinyl starts shipping from Canada on December 15, 2023.
Worldwide distribution (via Cargo Records UK) will begin in early 2024.

Includes unlimited streaming of Wishah وِشاح via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 7 days

edition of 200

$25 USD or more
Full Digital Discography

65

releases

Get all 65 Ruptured Records releases available on Bandcamp and save 60%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Modern Individual, Transient Organ, Wishah وِشاح, Hometown [Original Score], Kaput, Enfin La Nuit, Marjaa: The Battle Of The Hotels, Low Toms Bright Bells and Darkest Spells, and 57 more. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$201.20 USD or more (60% OFF)

1.	Akaleel أكاليل 07:44	buy track
2.	Ba'oud بعوض 04:42	buy track
3.	Al khayal الخيال 05:28	buy track
4.	Ahad أحد 04:58	buy track
5.	Tareeq طريق 07:31	buy track

about

["Wishah وِشاح" was released by UK label Touch in October 2023, as a CD and digital album. Ruptured released the vinyl version in December 2023. The text and credits below are adapted from the album entry on Touch's Bandcamp page.]
touch333.bandcamp.com/album/wishah

"Wishah" (meaning veil in Arabic) is a composition for voice, oud and electronics in five stages, composed and performed by Lebanese musician Youmna Saba between 2021 and 2022.

Following her previous solo works "Njoum" (2014) and "Arb’een" (2017), this album marks a significant turning point in Saba's journey. Created after leaving Beirut and settling in Paris, "Wishah" reveals a profound shift in her musical expression, informed by rigorous research in the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes and their role in shaping synthesized electronic sounds.

The album employs a digital extension for the oud, a concept developed by Saba in her research project 'Taïma’. This device enhances the oud's sonic range, seamlessly integrating synthesised electronics. It also amplifies subtle, often overlooked sounds generated during playing, such as resonances and fingerboard friction.

The composition is organized into five distinct stages, each contributing to a process of gradual revelation. As the tracks unfold, they strip away layers of constructed emotions and perceptions that have been intricately woven over time, to expose a space that no longer exists. Wishah is a farewell to home.

Youmna Saba is a Lebanese-born, Paris-based musician, composer and musicologist. Her current research focuses on instrument and space resonances in different sonic and musical contexts. With four albums to date, she has collaborated with artists from different countries and backgrounds, further enriching her repertoire and expanding her reach. These include Kamilya Jubran, Floy Krouchi, Mike Cooper and the Neue Vocalsolisten ensemble, among others. She is the laureate of the first sound residency at Quai Branly Museum, Paris (2022-2023) with her research project and installation “La Réserve des Non-Dits”, now on view at the museum; and a laureate of the music residency program at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2020-2021).

ACCLAIM FOR WISHAH:

"Structured into five discernible stages, Wishah guides us through a gradual process of revelation, deconstructing memories and barriers that have built up through the ages. Saba carefully peels back those layers, finding an empty shell at the center, the place where home once existed. Each word stings. Caustic, atmospheric drones hollow out the last remnants, leaving our thoughts trailing into the endless night. A stunning album." – Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis

“Nestled in the interval between the urgency of speaking, and that of remaining silent or speaking out of turn, Youmna Saba engages in a relentless yet passionate and loving heart-to-heart with her instrument.” – Nasri N. Sayegh, L’Orient le Jour

"The five-song composition feels like going in circles on the edge of an epiphany; a spiral in synthesised oud." – Layla Raik, SceneNoise

"Lebanese musician, composer and musicologist Youmna Saba positions her voice at the center of her latest solo album (...) Very strong material indeed." – Boomkat

"A remarkable new work from Beirut's Youmna Saba, now based in Paris. Saba is an accomplished oud player (...) On Wishah وِشاح her oud's sound is technologically extended, to amplify every string squeak and body tap, and further integrated with sympathetic electronics. The works range from abstract processed sound to delicate oud fingerpicking, and most tracks patiently reach a place where Saba brings in her emotive vocals. It's an immersive, moving listening experience." – Peter Hollo, Utility Fog

"Saba s’attaque au logiciel historique du oud en tant qu’instrument : (elle) utilise ce qui est souvent perçu comme une série de défauts pour le transformer en instrument électro-acoustique, en jouant notamment sur des dispositifs de larsen maîtrisé, comme lorsqu’elle a placé le oud face à 6 voix et travaillé sur leurs résonances dans l’instrument. À le faire sonner ainsi, elle s’affranchit de la vision essentialiste s’étant largement diffusée ces cinquante dernières années en Europe ; un oud justement dénué de bruits, suspendu dans une logique de pureté proche de la musique baroque, où chaque note résonne et doit rencontrer le silence du public." – Musique Journal

credits

released December 15, 2023

"Wishah وِشاح"
Written and performed by Youmna Saba.
Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut.
Produced by Youmna Saba and Fadi Tabbal.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu.
Design and photography by Jon Wozencroft.
Published by Touch Music/Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd.

The oud digital extension used on this record was developed by Nicolas Canot, and produced by Césaré - Centre National de Création Musicale, as part of the research project "Taïma", by Youmna Saba.

Vinyl version of "Wishah وِشاح" produced by Ruptured in Montréal, Canada in Fall 2023.
RPTD047

license

about

Ruptured Records Beirut, Lebanon

Ruptured Records was founded in 2008 by DJ and radio host Ziad Nawfal and sound engineer & studio owner Fadi Tabbal, as an outlet for their activities as producers and promoters in Beirut. Ruptured releases music by artists from Lebanon and the MENA region in a variety of formats - with a strong focus on experimental rock and leftfield electronic music. ... more

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Ruptured Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Ruptured Records recommends:

VV-VA-00
by Various artists

VV-VA was created by Lebanese electronic producer Jawad Nawfal (also known as Munma) in 2019 as a platform to showcase his far-reaching collection of unreleased tracks and experimental side projects. Ruptured Records
go to album
The Quiet Zone
by Stress Distress

2nd release from the electronic duo of Lebanese musicians Fadi Tabbal and Anthony Sahyoun, captured here in superior form. The album was recorded during a residency at electronic studio EMS in Sweden. Ruptured Records
go to album
Alternate African Reality – Electronic, electroacoustic and experimental music from Africa and the diaspora
by Compilation

This collection from Belgian experimental label Syrphe includes 32 artists and bands from 24 African countries and the diaspora, showcasing a healthy segment of the African electronic music world. Ruptured Records
go to album

If you like Wishah وِشاح, you may also like:

Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
by jaimie branch

supported by 9 fans who also own “Wishah وِشاح”

Peerless "punk" jazz. I particularly love the sound of the drums & the trumpet. Sweet, intense, full of fervor. Griffyn Louis Denizard
go to album
Who Sent You?
by Irreversible Entanglements

supported by 8 fans who also own “Wishah وِشاح”

YES! The bass and the drums together with the horn section and a voice and message that goes straight through your spine. What an unbound force! Every track a gem. neltz
go to album
Atrocity Tapes EP
by Yokonono

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 27, 2017
go to album

Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.

listen now