from beirut

Lebanese trumpet player Mazen Kerbaj had planned to spend most of July touring in the US but opted for staying in his home city, Beirut, with family during the Israeli bombings. His blog is a mind-deflating read for us sitting here watching this unfold via the daily paper and Drudgereport headlines. Out on his balcony, Kerbaj's has been dueting with the planes and bombs ("i recorded two hours of bombs + trumpet from my balcony yesterday night. some bombs were really close -- what kind of mouthpiece do the israeli pilots use to have this sound? the tension you get in your playing is incredible. Now i feel bad to draw or play music while people are burning"). He asks that we speak out:

to the question: "how can we help?"

the answer is: speak.

speak about the shit happening here. speak with your family. with your friends. with people you don't know. in a bar, a restaurant, at work. with the people in the streets. talk to everybody. talk to buildings. from here, it seems for us that no one in the whole world cares for those fucking burned children corpses.

And if you don't know what this is about, check the news.

Kerbaj is of the first wave of Middle East free improvisers. Staggering trumpet action, ice sheets and garbled syntax that surely will survive this war and blossom in the times to come.

Mazen Kerbaj &  Franz Hautzinger - Sahel al Bekaa
Mazen Kerbaj &  Franz Hautzinger - Abu Tarek  
Mazen Kerbaj - Songs for Evan (part 3 & 5)

Also, here is a link of an improvisation recorded by Mazen Kerbaj on the balcony of his flat in Beirut, on the night of 15th to 16th of July 2006.
mazen kerbaj / trumpet
the israeli air force / bombs.