Name: Sarāb
Members: Climène Za (vocals), Baptiste Ferrandis (guitar), Robinson Khoury (trombone), Paul Berne (drums), Thibault Gomez (keyboard), Timothée Robert (bass)
Nationality: French-Syrian (Climène), French (the other band members)
Current event: Sarāb will perform live at London's Ronnie Scott's May 27th 2024. Find more information on the Ronnie Scott's website.
Recommendations: Mona Saudi - "Woman with wings" (Lebanese painter); Maram al masri - Elle va nue, la liberté

If you enjoyed this Sarāb interview and would like to know more about the band, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram, and Facebook.



There are many potential models for creativity, from live performances and jamming/producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?

Our albums and our live performances are different. We used to record before playing the songs on stage. We love to jam together or to improvise, to change the old songs so we can play them in a different way on stage ...

We work a lot as a collective. Even it's hard and it takes time it is important for us that in every song you can find a little part of each one of us.

How do your different characters add up to the band's sound and in which way is the end result – including live performances – different from the sum of its pieces?

We are from different musical horizons, jazz, metal, pop, arabic classical music, rock ... And that's what makes our music unique.

So each of our songs has its own path: it can begin with an acoustic melody and finish with atechno.

Tell me about a piece or album which shows the different aspects you each contribute to the process particularly clearly, please.

On our last EP (QAWALEBESE TAPE) you can see all of our aspects.

For example, “Samt” was at first only a rythm and a melody and we worked hard all together to create this universe - to find a symbiosis in this song with this big techno part, and the piano/voice at its end.

This song is like a day passing.

What is your sense of ownership like as part of the collective songwriting process? What is the balance between the lyrics, melodies and harmonies, and the groove in terms of your sound?

The lyrics are not always written out. Our singer choose Arabic poems which are translated sometimes into French, or she translates French lyrics written by the guitarist to Arabic.

Otherwise, anyone in the band can bring a melody or an idea and we work all on it.

What tend to be the best songs in your opinion – those where you had a lot in common as a band or those where you had more differences? What happens when another musician takes you outside of your comfort zone?

All of our songs are really different and all of them can be our best song. It depends on the day, the musicians, the place ...

How has the interaction within the group changed over the years? How do you keep things surprising, playful and inspiring?

As we grow together, you get to know everyone better …. to share friendship, to go to a concert together, to jam together, to party together .... to be alive together keep things surprising, playful and inspiring!!!

Most bands eventually break up. What makes you stay together? What are essentials for a successful band?

Friendship. And the fact that we love what we create together. It is never the same.