Jeme Explores Arab Tribal Musical Traditions on Experimental Project

Riyadh-born DJ and electronic music producer Jeme explores the diverse tribal musical traditions across the Arab world in his new experimental project, ‘Drums & Tribes’.

The project is the product of Jeme’s collaborative sound performance for artist and composer Tarek Atoui’s visual art exhibition at the Diriyah Arts Biennale last May, and was recorded live there. The exhibition, a long-term research and performance project of Atoui, focuses on Arabic music sensibility known as Tarab, adapting repurposed and locally hand-made instruments to continuously play compositions that combine contemporary electronic sounds and field recordings from Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

Released under his own label, KNZ Records, Jeme’s ‘Drums & Tribes’ EP sees him venturing into a new sonic territory that’s unusual from his style. He reimagines traditional Arab folk music through a contemporary electronic lens, blending sounds of drums and metals from the exhibition with ambient recordings of laid-back dinner conversations with his wife and two-year-old daughter.

There’s an ominous melody present across the three official tracks of the record that serves as a canvas for a disoriented cacophony of soft percussion, metal clinks, and soulful chants from traditional Saudi folk music. This is very notable in the opening ‘Track 01’ as well as ‘Track 02’.

On ‘Track 03’, however, the continuous rattling of drums and metal contrasts with a simple, repeated melody and humming passed back and forth by a female soloist, Sarah, which is inspired by Abu Baker Salem’s poetry ‘Fi Alsamaa Gheim’. The EP also features a Tarab remix of the third track, along with a record of the full live performance.

Each track on the record flows seamlessly into the other, creating a cohesive, lively and emotionally thralling body of work that lures you into an ecstatic state.