Lebanese artist, singer, composer, and producer Toni Geitani’s new album “Wahj” greets you on its cover with a dark, crater-like or cave-like tableau bearing the traces of an unknown violence. But as you look closer, you begin to notice the light seeping through in whites and greens. Wahj — which means “glimmer” or “sparkle” in Arabic — creates exactly this effect: rays of hope filtering through an intense, apocalyptic sound world.
Cinematic Memory Behind the Ruins
Trained primarily as a filmmaker, Geitani focuses in his music on “what comes after the catastrophe” — on what lies beyond the event itself. Growing up in Beirut amid the physical and psychological scars of civil war, Geitani delivers this 75-minute epic album with massive vocals, thunderous percussion, and brooding synths presented with a cinematic grandeur worthy of the silver screen.
The Alchemy of Maqam and Electronics
Geitani is part of that exciting collective — alongside artists such as Nadah El Shazly and SANAM — that integrates traditional Arabic music into modern forms. In the album, he seamlessly embeds classical maqam melodies and layālī (vocal improvisations) within meticulously crafted electronic environments.
The Political Power of Sound
With a master’s degree in electronic music and a thesis titled “Sampling as a Political Tool,” Geitani treats samples like historical relics. From the melancholic strings in “Hal” to the jazz-inflected percussion in “Ruwaydan Ruwaydan,” every moment carries the voice of a weary yet hopeful spirit trying to find its way through the rubble. “Wahj” stands as a sonic monument reminding us that even in the darkest moments, humanity survives through that fragile glimmer.
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Toni Geitani treats music not merely as an auditory experience, but as an “archaeology of memory”; every sample resonates like an echo from the past.
The album’s cinematic structure fuses Hans Zimmer’s dramatic depth with Nadah El Shazly’s experimental Arabic folk sensibility.
If you are drawn to music’s storytelling power and the mesmerizing dance of Middle Eastern maqam structures within the digital realm, this 75-minute journey will shake you to your core.
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