BIOGRAPHY
Based in Beirut, Abed Kobeissy has been creating music from various tools for various genres. His work ranges from solo projects and collaborations, to music composition for film, theater, and especially dance, having now composed original music for 12 dance and theater productions.
Having taken the Levantine buzuq as his main tool of production, his music holds a strong local identity while being unapologetically rooted in the confusion of the present, relying on the local urban soundscape as the main generator of its language and emotionality, tackling subjects often related to family, and home. He received various commissions for music composition, such as The Berlin Biennale & The Berlin International Film Festival (2018), UNESCO’s Haneen Exhibition (2018), CTM Music Festival Berlin (2020), Irtijal/Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival’s commission (2021), and others. In 2020, Kobeissy became a fellow at The Sundance Institute’s Theater Lab as music composer for contemporary dance. He's also written commissioned research in music and musicology, and served as a juror on Ettijahat’s 2020 Academic Grants Program AJYAL. Most recently Kobeissy released his single "A Simple Song About Weather and Murder", co-composed with Lebanese electronic musician Sary Moussa, commissioned by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival & Irtijal. In 2016 he co-founded the electro-acoustic duo Two or The Dragon with Beirut-based percussionist Ali Hout, with whom he released 2 albums; “Prelude For The Triumphant Man” (2017), and "Dance Grooves For The Weary" (2021). He also co-founded the Lebanese-German beat-noise quartet Stellar Banger alongside Ali Hout, Joss Turnbull, and Pablo Giw, with whom he released the album "Data Is" (2021). Kobeissy has performed his solo and collaboration works, as well as live compositions for performance arts in various festivals and events such as The Berlin International Film Festival, CTM Music Festival, Supersonic Int’l Music Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Féstival d’Avignon, and other international events. Kobeissy holds a degree of Masters in Advanced Studies on the semiotics of music in Arabic cinema, and has taught as a lecturer at the Lebanese American University. Since 2012, as an amateur photographer, selections of his photography are being featured and sold at art galleries in Beirut. His work in photography can be viewed here on this website. |
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