Bio

Mayssa Jallad is a Beirut-based bilingual singer-songwriter, architectural researcher and

teacher, born in 1990. Her work deals with the highly personal as well as the political, as with her first solo album “Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels”, which explores the histories of urban battles that occurred before she was born, during the Lebanese Civil War, through a collaborative musical and architectural lens.

ميساء جلّاد مغنية بالعربية والإنكليزية، وكاتبة أغاني باللغتين. مهندسة معمارية، وباحثة وأستاذة جامعية، مقيمة في بيروت.  يتناول عملها مواضيع إنسانية وسياسية وعمرانية، كما هو الحال في ألبومها: "مرجع: حرب الفنادق"

الذي يستكشف تاريخ معارك حدثت قبل ولادتها، خلال الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية؛ من خلال عمل جماعي بعدسة موسيقية ومعمارية.

"There’s a stoic determination in the purposeful acoustic guitar strums that hold the fractured sonic architecture of Mayssa Jallad’s “Markaz Azraq (December 6)” together. Her words carry the weight of a thousand suns. Still, her delivery is plaintive and unafraid as she tells the story of a nameless man who lost both sons during the Battle of the Hotels. Once the instrumental palette expands, the warm glow from Fadi Tabbal’s synth personifies the steely perseverance needed in the face of such destruction." – Foxy Digitalis, February 2023

"In an overwhelmingly creative and critical act, Mayssa Jallad turns the destruction of the Lebanese Civil War into a stunning, two-sided album driven by poetic songwriting mixed with historical narration, lush strings and synths, gentle drones, and her
incredible vocal prowess." – Maha ElNabawi, SceneNoise, March 2023

"(Marjaa) is, as one might expect, a sombre affair largely comprised of Jallad's delicate vocals backed by acoustic guitar and ethereal synthesizer. Elsewhere, co-composer and producer Fadi Tabbal adds the crackle of distant artillery and a ghostly wind between the high-rise blocks." – Daniel Spicer, Songlines, April 2023

"As a lyricist, Jallad is poetically laconic. One track, 'Kharita', from the Dahaliz section, has two just lines: 'I walk the streets alone, in my hand a map/ That I don't understand. It's this precise, minimal weightiness that helps make Marjaa such an accomplished and unusual album." – Louise Gray, New Internationalist, April 2023

"In the end, the album, like the city on which it is based, feels like an infinite loop of history, relayed through the brave yet saintly voice of an artist who has taken the task of documenting the past through music." – Christina Hazboun, Bandcamp, April 2023
daily.bandcamp.com/features/mayssa-jallad-marjaa-battle-of-the-hotels-interview   

Mayssa’s other multi-genre collaborations include “Madina min Baeed” (2022) with

electronic musician/producer Khaled Allaf; “Bi Kheir” and “Fil Aatma” (2022) with indie

supergroup Baada Ab (Dani Shukri, Ezra Tenenbaum and Omaya Malaeb), released by Thawra

records and Found Sound Nation.

 غنت وكتبت ميساء أغنية "مدينة من بعيد" مع المنتج خالد علّاف و أغنيتَي "بخير" و "في العتمة" مع فرقة بعد آب - داني شكري، إزرا تننباوم وأمية ملاعب - في سنة 2022. صدرت هذه الأغاني مع ثورة ريكوردز و فاوند ساوند نايشن. 

In 2013, Mayssa founded indie-pop band Safar with guitarist Elie Abdelnour, releasing debut

album In Transit with Lebanese indie label Ruptured in 2017, and follow-up EP Studies of an

Unknown Lover in 2019. Both albums were produced by Lebanese producer Fadi Tabbal at

Tunefork Studios in Beirut. Safar has performed in various venues in Lebanon, as well as in

Paris, Belgium, London, Dubai, New York, Durham and Boston. The band possesses a strong and widespread following in Lebanon, gathered over the years thanks to a number of intimate

performances, marked by singer Jallad’s emotional vocal delivery and Elie Abdelnour’s superior

guitar work. Mayssa also performed with Lebanese producer Zeid Hamdan as part of the band

"Zeid and the Wings", in Cairo and Gouna in 2015 and Casablanca in 2014.

أسّست ميساء في 2013 فرقة سفر Safar مع العازف والملحن إيلي عبد النور، وغنّت وكتبت كلمات وموسيقى الأغاني. أصدرت مع المنتج اللبناني فادي طبّال في استوديو تيونفورك في بيروت الألبومين: إن ترانزت -2017- و ستديز أوف أن أنّون لوفر -2019-.

قدّمت فرقة سفر عروضاً في بيروت وباريس وبلجيكا ولندن ودبي ونيويورك وكارولَينا الشمالية وبوسطن. تمتعت فرقة سفر بمتابعة قوية وواسعة النطاق في لبنان، بفضل عدد من العروض الصغيرة التي تميزت بإلاحساس الغنائي المرهف لجلّاد، وأداء عبدالنور السهل الممتنع على الغيتار. غنت جلّاد مع المنتج اللبناني زيد حمدان، ضمن فرقة زيد أند ذا وينكز في القاهرة والغردقة بمصر 2015، وفي الدار البيضاء 2014 .