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Compiled in 2012 from his studio in Beirut, host J. Namy aka Electric Kahraba surveys the history of the keyboard and electronic instruments across the Arab culture of the Middle East. An avid record bin hunter, the music is from Namy’s collection of vinyl, cassettes, and CDs found across Lebanon, Syria, and surrounding countries. Araby synth styles first began as a quirky novelty, sonically invoking the West while mashing the instrument up against traditional Arabic instrumentation. This program dives into the electrified shape-shifting history of the synthesizer in contemporary music from the Middle East, from the mid-60s to the present. We hear some of the earliest examples of keyboard music and work up to the gritty amplified modern shaabi instrumentals of today. With tracks by Abdallah Chahine, Abdel Halim Hafez, Kakino de Paz, Baligh Hamdi, Omar Korshid, Damascus Musical Group, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Ahmed Fakhroun, Les Freres Megri, and a Shaabi M'shekal. Photo of J. Namy by Raymond Gemayel.

"Experimental Composers" is produced by Clocktower Radio and broadcast in partnership with Wave Farm's WGXC 90.7-FM. Writes Clocktower Radio, "Performances from new and established musical innovators. The unfortunate and unintended messages that come attached to a title like Experimental Composers are many. Still it is one of the few labels to come out of the world of music that has not been co-opted by promoters, corporations, journalists, or lawyers. This one just seems to have anti-market goo on it. Hooray. It's also just bad English (as if to imply that these poor souls are themselves, in their flesh and blood, some kind of experiment and, perhaps, even expendable). And then there is the spectre of defying the wisdom of the great Edgar Varèse who said something like, 'I do not write experimental music. My experimenting is done before I make the music. Afterwards it is the listener who must experiment."