As I was doing research on Lebanese music for an event in collaboration with The Hague Peace Project (link of the event here on 18th and 19th of June!), I discovered the youtube channel of Beirut Jam Sessions. They post videos of live performances of Lebanese artists but also artists from the rest of the world performing in Beirut. The channel is quite interesting to explore because of the great diversity of artists featured in those videos. They really don’t stick to one precise genre so you never really know what you are going to hear before clicking on the video. As I was hopping from one video to another I suddenly got intrigued by this duo “Twyn towers”.

The composition in itself was quite minimalistic, it was just rhythmics on drums and a clear guitar sound. However I was immediately hooked by the energy coming out of their performance, letting yourself be taken away by the flow created by those fast percussions and guitar melodies.

As I was trying to get more information about this mysterious duo, I arrived on the page of “Hisstology” a music label based in Beirut where Twyn Towers have released a few projects. That is when I realized that the guitarist, Charif Megarbane also known as “Cosmic Analog Ensemble”, releases projects on his own as well. As I was scrolling down the label’s releases, his name seemed to appear everywhere.

He worked on solo albums such as “Muhadathat” (one of my personal favourites) or the series of albums called “The Submarine Chronicles” exploring a different music genre every time. He also releases music as part of other bands such as Prefaces, BRONTOSAURES, or the Kaya Collective. It is pretty rare and very enjoyable to be able to see an artist being involved on so many different grounds at the same time. It really feels like looking at Charif's creativity and music from a different lense everytime and discovering its multiple faces as you listen to the different projects.

Honestly, with more than a hundred releases in the past decade, it feels like Charif doesn’t sustain himself out of food and water like the rest of us humans, but rather out of guitar melodies and music production.

Although he has started with the guitar, Charif is a multi-instrumentalist, works with music production, and comes up with the artwork for most of his releases as well.
From the research I have done, it appears that he also owns the record “Hisstology”, or at least part of it, and there seems to be a pretty blurry line between the label, the artists, the composition, the music production.

It feels like everything blends together and is proof of some brilliant multitasking from him and the other artists surrounding him. Understanding more about the process in which he releases music but also listening to the many different albums Charif has worked on, you can feel a true DIY culture, a feeling of spontaneity which allows to keep the energy real and is personally a feeling I had not felt in a while.