Albidaya in Arabic means The Beginning, which in the case of Beaini's, might be the return to the beginnings, or the start of the path. The album is conceptually a revisiting of the traditional and early psychedelic Arabic music, all through distorted paths and instruments, remashed and deconstructed sounds, recreating patterns with diverse instruments to give a different perspective of the sound itself. Includes musicians from Upperground Piero Bittolo Bon and Tommaso Cappellato. Commissioned by Annihaya in Lebanon by Sharif Sehnaoui, Raed Yassin and Hatem Imam - includes artwork by Maria Kassab.
'Almost entirely recorded in a day, and featuring cello, saxophone and drums in addition to electronics, Albidaya doesn't attempt to replicate Lebanese folk music. Instead, it articulates a point of contact between various worlds.' Rory Gibb for the Wire