Lebanese jazz band Praed to perform in SA, Zimbabwe

Founded by Raed Yassin and Paed Conca in 2006, Praed is a Lebanese band whose musical oeuvre can be described as a mixture of Arabic popular music, free jazz, and electronics. In the same year, the band made its first public appearance in Al Maslakhfestival in Switzerland, immediately followed by a concert at the Irtijal festival in Beirut. Since then, the band has frequented numerous international music festivals and toured intensively worldwide. Through these endeavours, the band has created a large global network with other renowned musicians as musical collaborators.

The band consists of two regular members: Yassin playing keyboards, laptop, electronics and vocals; and Conca on clarinet, electric bass, and electronics.

The band’s body of work mainly explores the terrain of Arabic popular music (Shaabi) and its interconnectedness with other psychedelic and hypnotic musical genres in the world, such as free jazz, space jazz, and psychedelic rock among others.

Since its inception, Praed has shown a very keen interest in this music as a medium that reflects Egyptian society’s complicated fabric. Through the research it conducted, the band began to discover a strong cultural connection between Shaabi sounds and Mouled music played in religious trance ceremonies. The hypnotising psychedelic effect that was embedded in this genre also triggered thoughts around its similarity to other popular music in the world that employ forms of sonic delirium, such as free jazz and psychedelic rock.

Praed’s tour stops in SA and Zimbabwe:

-24 April - Drawing Room, Cape Town
-26 April - Trackside Creative, Johannesburg
- 27 April - Edge of Wrong, Johannesburg
-1 May - HIFA, Harare

www.paed.ch/praed