dublab Radio presents Louder than the Noise: Dispatches from Progressive Music Minds, Makers, and Communities in the Middle East and North Africa. Our guests come from across the music world, including artists, engineers, producers, journalists, radio hosts, label owners, and more. This series spotlights their compelling work.

Ziad Nawfal is a DJ, radio host, music promoter, and producer based in Beirut. He has spent the better part of the last 25 years exposing Lebanon and the wider world to unique local and regional independent music and artists via his long-running radio shows, Ruptures and Décalages, broadcasted on Radio-Lebanon 96.2 FM.

In 2008, Nawfal co-founded the independent label, Ruptured Records, with Lebanese studio owner and engineer Fadi Tabbal. Their intent was to showcase and produce work by emerging alternative artists from Lebanon and the MENA region. In 2010, he edited and published the book Untitled Tracks, which consisted of photographs and text that documented the early years of Beirut’s then-new alternative and experimental music scenes.

Since 2013, Nawfal has also been the managing director of Irtijal, the first and foremost festival for
experimental music in Lebanon. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020, Irtijal is rightly considered one of the the most vital and consistently interesting events for experimental music, in all its varied shapes and forms, in the Middle East.

Ziad Nawfal was interviewed by Alejandro Cohen.

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All interviews were conducted in 2019. We’d like to thank our guests and contributors. This series was produced by dublab Radio and Matteah Baim. Interviews were conducted by Alejandro Cohen and Mark “Frosty” McNeill. The dublab sound logo was created by Suzanne Ciani. Alejandro Cohen made our theme music. Editing was done by Matteah Baim. Lauren Denitzio was our graphic designer.