The world that Maya Al Khaldi & Sarouna summon in their music is one fraught with longing, curiosity, and warmth. Al Khaldi is an artist, musician, and composer from Palestine, who is based in Jerusalem. Sarouna is a Palestinian qanun player, producer, and DJ who is the founder of Tawleef, an independent women-led Palestinian artist space and record label. Aptly titled Other World (2022), their debut album takes inspiration from Palestinian folklore to imagine a sonic future. As such the past intermingles with prospects of what’s to come in order to create something that feels both supernatural and nostalgic. With an interest in archives, for each song, Al Khaldi and Sarouna borrow lyrics, melodies, or recordings from the traditional Palestinian music archive of Ramallah’s Popular Art Centre. In songs like the eponymous “Other World,” Al Khaldi’s voice etches out space on the ground for new plant life to flourish. The next song, “Kan” begins by facing towards the past, interslicing archival interview recordings with looping folk instrumentation before evolving with quaking, concussive percussion and noise. Maya Al Khaldi & Sarouna’s music succeeds so convincingly at what it’s trying to do: build a future from echoes of the past. It sounds like nothing else.
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