Brickwork Lizards
Haneen
Brickwork Lizards is an 8-piece Turkabilly hip-hop band from Oxford, UK that bridges the divide between Arabic and Western music. The band took shape over a chance encounter at a party when Egyptian vocalist and oud-player Tarik Beshir met Oxford rap scene stalwart Tom O'Hawk. Discovering a mutual love of the 1930s harmony group The Ink Spots, they dreamed up an entirely new sound that would combine pre-war jazz with Arabic and Middle Eastern music, paying tribute along the way to countless other styles. Over the ten years since, Brickwork Lizards have refined their line-up, adding guitar, drums, trumpet, cello, violin and double-bass, while building up a dedicated fan base with hundreds of gigs and festival appearances across the UK. The band's eight members draw on a wide range of musical experiences, from critically-acclaimed Arabic classical ensembles (Oxford Maqam) to working with chart-topping pop groups (Saint Etienne). In Arabic, 'haneen' describes a feeling of nostalgic yearning, and bygone times and places haunt every song on this remarkable record. The band's radical re-imaginings of traditional material, from courtly dances of the Ottoman sultans to ancient English hanging songs, evoke centuries of history and showcase a band adept at crossing borders and taking bold musical risks. Brickwork Lizards are world music, redefined.