Presented as part of “Museum as Hub: Beirut Art Center,” organized by guest curators Sandra Dagher and Lamia Joreige.

Sharif Sehnaoui plays both the electric and acoustic guitar with extended and prepared techniques so as to expand the intrinsic possibilities of these instruments without the use of effects or electronics. For his solo concert at the New Museum, Sehnaoui will focus on specific acoustic guitar setups.

Sharif Sehnaoui is a free improvising guitarist. He plays both electric and acoustic guitars, with (or without) extended and prepared techniques, focusing on expanding the intrinsic possibilities of these instruments without the use of effects or electronics. He now resides in Beirut, his hometown, after more than a decade in Paris, where he started his career as an improviser in 1998, playing at Instants Chavirés where he was a member of several orchestras. He has since performed his music worldwide and played in many clubs and festivals such as Soundfield (Chicago), Moers, Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), Météo Music Festival (Mulhouse), Club Transmediale (Berlin), Skanu Mesz (Riga), and Musikprotokoll (Graz). In Lebanon, he actively contributed to the emergence of an unprecedented, experimental music scene. Along with Mazen Kerbaj, he created Irtijal (irtijal.org) in 2000, an annual, international festival that is currently the only improvised and new music festival in the Arab world. He also runs several labels: “Al Maslakh” (almaslakh.org) devoted to “publishing the un-publishable” on the Lebanese musical scene.