NL premiere

Youmna Saba is a musician, composer, and musicologist whose sounds and research focus on instrumental resonances in different musical contexts and the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes. Accompanying her mesmeric vocals, Saba plays the oud with a special digital extension that she developed as part of a research project. This attachment uses integrated synthesised electronics that amplify the subtle haptic vibrations of the oud’s fingerboard and its hidden resonances that often slip by the human ear. On her most recent album Wishah (2023), meaning “veil” in Arabic, this can be heard in full force. Wriggling strings and creaking fingerboards careen through songs such as “Ba'oud,” while droning subterranean tones rumble in “Al khayal,” perforated by the clarity of Saba’s voice. Electroacoustic in its truest sense, the music feels much like a collaboration between something synthetic and something deeply human. Borrowing from the long tradition of instrument making, Saba brings a new approach, cybernetically adapting the oud for exploration into new sonic potentials. The oud speaks just as she does – appearing in her music as an ethereal figure with many urgent things to address and with an uncanny sense of agency and expression.

*This is a seated concert