It's a Book, It's a Film, It's a Concert
Working in fields as varied as music, visual arts, comics or theater, Mazen Kerbaj is one of the key figures of the post-civil war Lebanese artistic scene, residing in Berlin. His work has been published in more than ten languages and has been shown in galleries, museums and art fairs around the world.
(c) Mazen Kerbaj
Book Presentation: Learning Deutsch
A graphic book by Mazen Kerbaj
In 2018, after moving to Berlin with his family, Mazen Kerbaj decided to learn German, in his own personal way: one new word per day, that he illustrates with a related self-portrait.
The resulting 365 drawings that constitute Learning Deutsch can thus be read on various levels. The book is of course a language-learning tool, albeit an unconventional one, but it is also an open diary that lets us in the intimacy of the artist and his day-to-day life. Page after page, word after word, we follow Mazen Kerbaj in his learning process, discovering his family, his friends, his passions, his habits, his travels or his political opinions. It can ultimately be read as the story of a middle-eastern artist who moved to Germany.
The drawings are often funny, but also sad and touching by times; they rarely simply illustrate the words, but rather answer them with Kerbaj’s signature satirical counterpoints.
The book, which was created in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Beirut, Lebanon, presents the drawings in the chronological order they were created in, each one with the date on top, and the German word translated in two languages: English (the lingua franca of today’s world) and Arabic (the artist’s native language).
(c) Mazen Kerbaj
Film: The Musical
Written, performed and directed by Mazen Kerbaj, 2021
This short movie follows an imaginary day in the life of experimental musician Mazen Kerbaj. In more than 15 apparitions, Kerbaj delves in activities as varied as sleeping, talking, praying, playing, or fighting, sometimes alone and sometimes with himself. The result is an accurate yet amusing self-portrait, exploring both the unique music practice of the artist and his humoristic approach to megalomania.
The Musical is Kerbaj's first movie. Commissioned by the Counterflows festival for their 2021 edition, it was shot and produced in complete isolation, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, and it addresses both literally and figuratively the impossibility for the performing musician to meet and play with other musicians or in front of an audience.
The movie showcases Kerbaj's unique playing techniques and his radical approach to music. It is however far from the seriousness usually associated with contemporary music performances. Quite the contrary actually; the movie is playful and rather funny. But what appears as a comedy at first glance is tinged with a great deal of melancholy.
(c) "A" Trio
Concert: "A" Trio
Mazen Kerbaj, trumpet
Sharif Sehnaoui, guitar
Raed Yassin, bass
The “A” Trio makes its Chicago debut, an extremely rare opportunity to see this influential and important ensemble. This longstanding working band features three leaders of the improvised music scene based in Beirut, although all three split time between that city and European hubs such as Berlin and Paris.
Back
