Yalla! – Cut-ups to dance to

Pumping head-nodding beats, warm echo effects, rapturous string melodies on the Arabic lute, the oud: in Love and Revenge, Lebanese-Greek artist Randa Mirza (La Mirza) and Lebanese-French musician Wael Koudaih alias Rayess Bek bring the harmonies of the Arab world and hip-hop together. Randa Mirza edits live accompanying montages from Arabic films made between 1940 and 1990: images of romance, of tenderness, images of desire. In the process, she manages to expose the strength inherent to images of women, even from productions that seem to only portray female identity as trapped in being a mere object. Ironic, quizzical, informed.

Rayess Bek