Ya Balad Bachar Mar-Khalifé

• 1 Kyrie Eleison 04:46
• 2 Balcoon 04:40
• 3 Lemon 04:06
• 4 Layla 03:49
• 5 Yalla Tnam Nada (feat. Golshifteh Farahani) 04:16
• 6 Wolf Pack 04:24
• 7 Ya Balad 03:45
• 8 Madonna 05:50
• 9 Laya Yabnaya 05:24
• 10 Ell3 02:39
• 11 Dors mon gâs(e) 03:55
• Total Runtime 47:34

Info for Ya Balad

Auf seinem dritten Album Ya Balad (= O Homeland), erzählt uns Bachar Mar-Khalifé von Licht und Schatten seiner Beziehung zum Libanon: dem schmerzlichen Verlust der körperlichen Nähe durch sein französisches Exil, aber auch den nostalgischen Erinnerungen, die ihn mit dem Libanon verbinden – dem süßen Geschmack von Kondensmilch, Kaffeeschwaden über einem offenen Feuer, Croissants mit Zaatar (=Thymian)-Geschmack, dem Duft von Baladi(-Seife) oder der Rauheit eines Loofah-Schwamms.

Ya Balad mischt Klavier, Cembalo, Percussion, Schlagzeug, Melodica und Nay mit arabischen Texten, vor allem der Lyrik des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens, die Bachars Vorliebe für die künstlerische Synästhesie in den Mittelpunkt stellt.

Bachar Mar-Khalifé ist ein französisch-libanesischer Sänger, Komponist und Multi-Instrumentalist. Er studierte am Musikkonservatorium in Paris und hat u.a. mit den Dirigenten Lorin Maazel und James Gaffigan sowie mit dem Orchestre national de France und dem Ensemble intercontemporain zusammengearbeitet. Dazu kommen viele Projekte mit Künstlern wie Carl Craig, Francesco Tristano, Bojan Z, Murcof oder Kery James an den Schnittstellen von Jazz, World Music, Elektronik und HipHop. Geboren wurde er im vom Krieg zerstörten Libanon als Sohn des legendären Musikers Marcel Khalifé. Rami Khalifé von der Band Aufgang ist sein Bruder.

Bachar Mar-Khalifé
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, on 13 February 1983, Bachar Khalife’s first encounter with stones was when his comrade Kifah, hiding in a tree, threw a well-sized rock that hit him in the head. That was his first encounter with stones.

In 1988 he was transferred to Algiers. The day after his arrival, he fell in the Chriaa mountains. They covered his injured head with a piece of bread. That day, all of them raised their two fingers up in solidarity.

A year later it was off to Paris, where he would be kept for the next 19 years. At the age of 11, after he had a fight with his older brother Rami, over “who’s gonna get the ball from behind the wall of the garden today?”, Bachar drew a white horse with wings and rode it to get the ball.

In 1998, he accompanied his father Marcel to the Justice Court in Lebanon. Upon entering the court, they were greeted with a standing ovation along with clapping, as though the audience was expecting to hear someone sing a song.

In September 2000, on the Champs-Elysees, wearing the black and white kaffiyeh won him a beating. The cops did not arrest any of the aggressors and asked Bachar if he could return the phone that he reportedly stole, which was actually his own phone. On the next day, all of them raised their two fingers up in solidarity.

Two years before that, the cops fined him 100 Francs for spitting on that same avenue (he was sick) and was summoned to a hearing by the police because he spit on that same avenue (he was sick).

In July 2006, during his summer vacation in Lebanon, Bachar spent an afternoon playing football with his cousin Kiril and a few barefoot kids at a school that hosted too many people for a summer vacation. All enjoyed it very much.

That summer, he left Beirut on the Mistral boat. The trip was very long.

Today, standing on his balcony, looking over to his neighbors’ balcony, he noticed them noticing him looking at their balcony. He continued to notice them pretend not to be looking at him. At this point, he, his neighbors and his neighbors’ neighbors were all aware of each other looking at one another but pretending not to be intruding on each other’s solitude.

At this moment of the day, he wished that all of them looked at each other’s white wings thrust and all together raised their two fingers up again.

Booklet for Ya Balad