Chronicles From The Arab Cold War

Description

Pharoah Chromium is the project of German-Palestinian musician and sonic
performer Ghazi Barakat. With Chronicles from the Arab Cold War Pharoah
Chromium continues his long-standing engagement with the Palestinian cause,
following Gaza (LP, self-released 2015) and Jean Genet à Chatila (7”, self-released
2018).
In the summer of 2023, new material began to take shape from a session with flutes,
EWI (an analogue synth played like a wind instrument), and belly dancing beats. At
first these were instrumentals, waiting for their context. That frame appeared
unexpectedly, through the discovery of Chants Révolutionnaires d’Oman on the
French label Expression Spontanée — a record that connected seamlessly with the
material at hand.
As you listen, Side A reveals its dedication to the children of Gaza. Without exploiting
recordings from an ongoing genocide, the music instead channels hope through the
voices of Omani children, offering a vision of resilience and possibility in the Middle
East.
Side B grows darker, more funerary, reflecting the escalation of the conflict after
October 7. Trumpeter Philipp Selalmazidis, a recent collaborator, appears throughout
these sessions, adding weight and urgency. Over time, the adolescent voices of the A
side give way to adult voices, filling the space with anger and ideological rhetoric — a
stark progression from innocence to confrontation.
This is a record that refuses detachment: a work of mourning, resistance, and
improbable connections that insists on listening as an act of witness.