about

I am a musician, composer and musicologist born in Beirut, Lebanon. My current research focuses on the interrelation between the (sung) Arabic language and electronic and electroacoustic treatments. This research started with the project Taïma’, developped throughout artistic residencies in France, since 2020. 

It has been deployed over different projects, from musical compositions, solo and collaborations, music for films, experimentations on imagined devices for voice and oud and sound installations. 

I collaborated with the NeuVocalsolisten ensemble from Stutgart, Kamilya Jubran, Mike Cooper, Stephen O’Malley, Jean Marc Montera, Tarek Atoui, Kyungso Park among others, and took part in many international artist residencies such as la Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris 2020-2021), Sharjah Foundation (2022), School for Sonic Memory organised by Le Mucem, Onassis Stegi and Theatrum Mundi (2022), GMEM (Marseille 2020), Césaré CNCM (Reims 2020-2021), Hwaeom Spiritual Music Residency (South Korea, 2017), Sound Development City (Spain, Morocco, 2016), Gyeonggi Creation Center (South Korea, 2013). 

I recently completed my project La Reserve des Non-Dits which was the selected project for the 1st edition of the Sound Residency at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, 2023. 

I performed at festivals such as  CTM festival in Berlin (2022), Eclat festival in Stuttgart (2021), Irtijal in Beirut and Berlin (2021-2022), as well as venues and cultural spaces like Fondation Pinault (Paris) with Tarek Atoui in 2021, l’Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), Akademie Der Kunst in Berlin,  Cave12 (Genève), Gugak Center in Seoul, amongst others. 

I hold a masters degree in musicology (2014), from Antonine University, Baabda, Lebanon

Wishah - New Solo Album

Pre-orders now open

Wishah ('Veil' in Arabic) is a composition in five stages, written by Youmna Saba between 2021 and 2022, for voice, oud and electronics. 

Following her previous solo works Njoum (2014) and Arb’een (40) (2017), this album marks a significant turning point in Saba's journey. Created after leaving Beirut and settling in Paris, Wishah reveals a profound shift in her musical expression, informed by rigorous research in the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes and their role in shaping synthesised electronic sounds. 

The album employs a digital extension for the oud, a concept developed by Saba in her research project Taïma’. This device enhances the oud's sonic range, seamlessly integrating synthesised electronics. It also amplifies subtle, often overlooked sounds generated during playing, such as resonances and fingerboard friction. 

The composition is organised into five distinct stages, each contributing to a process of gradual revelation. As the tracks unfold, they strip away layers of constructed emotions and perceptions that have been intricately woven over time, to expose a space that no longer exists. Wishah is a farewell to home.

releases October 6, 2023 

Wishah 
Written and performed by Youmna Saba 
Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios, Beirut 
Produced by Youmna Saba and Fadi Tabbal 

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu 
Design and photography: Jon Wozencroft 
Published by Touch Music/Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd. 

The oud digital extension used on this record was developed by Nicolas Canot, and produced by Césaré - Centre National de Création Musicale, as part of the research project Taïma', by Youmna Saba

Ritha'

Ritha'

Youmna Saba

Poem by Assulaka (“Assulaka tarthi ‘ibnuha”, 7th c)
Music and performance by Youmna Saba

Based on “Surface Grinder 7” clip, from the Beirut Heritage Initiative sound library
Special thanks to Fadi Tabbal

© youmnasaba 2022
Read more…
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  1. Ritha'

La réserve des Non-Dits | MUSEE DU QUAI BRANLY

Installation sonore au musée du quai branly - Paris

photo par Julien BRACHHAMMER

"La réserve des non-dits", l’installation sonore de la musicienne, compositrice et musicologue @youmnasaba est à découvrir au musée jusqu’au 31 décembre !

"La réserve des non-dits" est le premier projet créé dans le cadre des résidences sonores du musée du #quaibranly : @youmnasaba, lauréate de la résidence sonore 2022, est allée capter le souffle des instruments de musique au cœur de la « tour des instruments », un environnement protégé et optimisé pour assurer leur bonne conservation.

 

L’installation propose un zoom sur les micro-sons qu’émettent ces instruments dans leur état passif, leurs résonances, leurs voix. C’est une manière de révéler l’inaudible, d’exhumer les traces de sons et autres images résiduelles, de retranscrire leurs histoires non-écrites, les informations que ces instruments captent et enregistrent dans leurs corps, au plus près de leur matière.

FOR PUBLISHING INQUIRIES

Al Sobh

Written and performed by Youmna Saba 
for the RELIEF Centre 2021 conference: 
"Working Through Crisis: Innovations, Possibilities and Limitations of Research in a Volatile Lebanon." 

Recorded in March 2021.

LATEST

featured track

HUBŪT

Based on "La Chute", by Albert Camus 

Written and performed by Youmna Saba 
Concrete sound "WOODEN STAIRS _ going down", from Radio Mansion sound bank 
Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal, at Tunefork 
2018, Beirut, Lebanon 

Written for the project Radio Mansion, a collaboration between The Outpost and Mansion (Beirut)

latest releases

ANTHOLOGY OF ELECTROACOUSTIC LEBANESE MUSIC

A COMPILATION BY UNEXPLAINED SOUNDS GROUP | RELEASED SEPTEMBER 2018

Two tracks of mine were featured in this compilation "Nafas" & "Hubut", along other works by Lebanese musicians in the experimental scene.

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Arb'een (40)

released may 2017

Written, arranged and performed by Youmna Saba / Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Recording Studios, Lebanon
 / Mastered by Lopazz at Mixmastering, Germany / Produced by Youmna Saba and Fadi Tabbal (Tunefork) / Album cover illustration and design by Joseph Kai

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NJOUM

released september 2014

Written and performed by Youmna Saba / Arranged by Youmna Saba & Fadi Tabbal / Track 5 by Fadi Tabbal / Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Recording Studios, Lebanon
 / Mastered by Lopazz at Mixmastering, Germany / Produced by Youmna Saba and Fadi Tabbal (Tunefork) / Album cover illustration and design by Joseph Kai

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in the press

interview on BBC NEWS ARABIC

Talking about my work and projects on BBC News Arabic.

Picture by Zakaria Wakrim

INTERVIEW ON FRANCE 24

NOVEMBER 2018

BBC 4: THE SOUND ODYSSEY

MAY 2018

Review: Anthology of Electroacoustic Lebanese Music from the Unexplained Sounds Group.

JANUARY 2019

NTS RADio | featured on the show "are you before"

january 2019

Playlist featuring my track "I Saw You" with Moisés Martìn Flores. 

​​​​​​​LISTEN HERE

contributor's charts | corridors (youmna Saba & nour sokhon)

december 2018

My collaboration with Nour Sokhon "Corridors", is featured among the Wire's contributor Maha El Nabawi's list.

VIEW HERE

You can also read more about her selection HERE (special mention to the members of SODASSI as well)

PORTRAIT ON DER TAGESSPIEGEL

APRIL 2018

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