SADA Live Video Release

SADA will release a series of full live video tracks in the weeks ahead of their debut album, Echoes of Maqam, due out this autumn on Neuklang Records. The first track, “Kaleidoscope,” arrives on September 4th, with “Lange Nacht” and “Tarantl” to follow in the weeks after.

SADA is a six-piece ensemble bringing together German and Syrian musicians around oud, ney, qanun, trumpet, electric guitar, bass and drums, a lineup the group has described as “a sonic bridge between jazz-rock and Middle Eastern tradition.” Rather than treating the Maqam modal system as ornament, the band builds its material from within it, setting the traditional scales and phrasing of oud, ney and qanun against the drive of an electric jazz-rock rhythm section.

Echoes of Maqam was recorded at Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg and grew out of the group’s recent studio work together. The live tracks now being released offer an early, unedited look at that material ahead of the album itself.

Each of the three tracks will be issued as a full live video, released to streaming platforms as a video where the platform supports it, and to YouTube in every case, in the run-up to the album’s release. The rollout gives listeners a chance to hear the material performed rather than only produced, in keeping with a band whose music is built substantially around interaction and improvisation.

We have watched SADA’s sound develop over the past year and see this pre-release run of live video performances as the right way to introduce Echoes of Maqam: it lets the band’s improvisational character speak for itself before the studio versions follow. For more on the album, the band and upcoming live dates, visit the SADA artist page.