London’s Syrian Arts and Culture Festival (SACF) proudly presents the new album launch part for the ‘quarter-tone pop’ gurus, TootArd. The evening will be supported by the Balkan Express Project led by Tasos Stamou and an electrified folk-pop DJ set by Yamen Mekdad.

Joining forces for the first time on a dancefloor, TootArd and Tasos Stamou take us on a voyage of sound. Their 70s era-infused electrified folk music transports us across time and space, from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the shores of Greece. Reverberating across the Mediterranean, their sounds echo the remnants of a shared history and unlock new possibilities that no border can stand in the way of. 

TootArd has come a long way since releasing their first album in 2011. Beginning with their ‘reggae-infused mountain rock’, the duo have now become iconic for their disco homage to the Middle Eastern dancefloor scenes of the 80’s. Their latest album ‘Migrant Birds’, has recreated an iconic sound where retro funk meets hi-sheen contemporary, full of pop hooks and quarter-tone melodic lines which the Guardian called “a homage to 80s Beirut disco stacked with pitch-bending percussion and joyous, earworming synth melodies”.

Opening act: Balkan Express

Balkan Express is Tasos Stamou’s most recent music project, featuring compositions that hack South East Mediterranean tunes with a Synthwave attitude.

Influenced by retro recordings of electrified folk from Greece, Turkey, the Balkans and the Arab World, as well as Krautrock and New Wave, Stamou delivers a keyboard-driven time capsule infused with live traditional eastern Mediterranean instruments, and will collaborate with qanun soloist, Konstantinos Glynos, for this show.

Support DJ: Yamen Makdad

Yamen will play a special set of electrified folk-pop from across the Mediterranean.

This event is co-produced by Marsm, Zamakan and Jazz Cafe. 

• This event is 18+
• The Jazz Cafe has both standing and seated (restaurant) tickets
• The venue has wheelchair access.