Track-by-Track: Yazan Sarayrah Sorts Through His Album ‘IRTH-TONIC’

As a musician and a songwriter, Yazan Sarayrah can’t help but stand apart from the rest of the pack. A Jordanian producer, composer, and performer, he just released his new record IRTH-TONIC. The album sets a high bar for originality, reimagining melodic electronic music through Arabic maqam, a melody type described as a technique of improvisation. Through creativity and experimentation, Sarayrah creates his own distinctive type of microtonal melodic techno that expands and widens the scope of contemporary electronic music. Where Sarayrah’s originality really comes out is in the live setting, with his performances featuring voice, electric guitar, analogue synthesis, MIDI controllers, and real-time performance techniques.

IRTH-TONIC is an expansion of Sarayrah’s ongoing exploration of cultural identity. He examines how heritage can carry forward and evolve rather than exist as something preserved in the past. The album is heavily inspired by historic places, oral traditions, and the rhythms of desert life. There is also a heavy influence of Jordanian and Bedouin culture that challenges common narratives. Sarayrah is challenging the status quo. His goal is to offer a new vision of electronic music moulded by the region’s own artistic language.

To really dig into this extraordinary new album, Sarayrah joins us for a Track-by-Track rundown of IRTH-TONIC.

“IRTH-TRONIC was a journey that took around two and a half years, giving myself the time to carefully shape its sonic identity. Throughout the process, I focused on building a consistent rather than constantly searching for new sounds. The album grew around a defined palette of instruments, textures, and production cycles that each track had the time to grow within.

“The rababa, saz, daff, electric guitar, and synthesizers became recurring voices throughout the record. Also, some grooves and rhythms were deliberately reintroduced within different tracks to remind us of an ‘album’ mentality. Instead of introducing many different elements, I explored how these sounds could evolve, merge, and take on new identities through performance, layering, and sound design. This allowed the album to feel like one continuous landscape, where each track belongs to the same universe.

“I had the space to develop a relationship between organic instruments and electronic production in my way, finding a balance between traditional and futuristic sounds. I wanted to create a sonic world where heritage and technology merge to form a new language capable of capturing the sound of our land in the context of melodic electronic music.”

1. “Echoes of Mo’ab”

“As the intro track of the album, I wanted it to be a minimal hint to where the journey is heading, representing the main idea behind the album. I imagined a distant futuristic presence deeply rooted and influenced by an ancient shared past. The contrast between the Hjeni style used (‘Hjei’ Bedouin melodic recitation style of poems) and the ambient soundscape I imagined worked very well, in my opinion, for this poem.

“The poem holds a very personal significance for me. It was written by Um Khaled, mother of General Khaled Hajhouj Al-Majali, during the 1973 October War, expressing her longing and concern for her son as he led the Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade on the Golan Heights front in Syria. My late father served on that same front under Khaled Hajhouj’s command, which makes this a very special and personal poem for me.

“The same ambiance continues to the next track, ‘Ben Hajhouj,’ connecting both tracks together.”

Yazan Sarayrah, photo by Baha Suleiman

2. “Ben Hajhouj”

“‘Ben Hajhouj’ continues the sonic story introduced in ‘Echoes of Mo’ab,’ carrying the same poem into a fuller and more rhythmic form. While the first track establishes the emotional and historical foundation, this piece allows the poem to unfold with greater depth, introducing a different Hjeni style and a richer arrangement.

“The rababa and electric guitar come together in a melodic phrase just before the second verse, recalling the first Hjeni melody and creating a moment of connection between the two tracks.

“The track closes with a microtonal phrase introduced earlier in the piece, expanded through a Rababa phrase that continues into the following track, ‘Theeb.’ This transition was intentional, allowing certain sounds, motifs, and emotions to pass from one track to another, sewing the entire journey together and reinforcing the album as one continuous sonic body.”

3. “Theeb”

“‘Theeb’ begins by carrying elements from ‘Ben Hajhouj,’ then taking its own path through nostalgic Hjeni motifs performed on the electric guitar. The poem used in this track was written by Jordanian poet Ibrahim Al Mnaja for the Jordanian film Theeb. The poem follows a free and fluid structure, with phrases that don’t follow equal rhythmic patterns. Finding the right melodic flow took some effort as I wanted the melody to respect the natural unequal movement of the words while carrying the emotional weight behind them.

“The track later expands on this structure through odd time signature melodies, followed by the Jordanian chant ‘Bir Zamzam’ after the drop. It closes with a recurring Bedouin motif and a vocal arpeggio that continues into Ghosn Al-Gana.”

4. “Ghosn al-Gana (feat. Ahmad Selawy)”

“This is a reimagination of a famous Yemeni folk melody that has passed through different interpretations over time. Originally carrying a message of social judgment toward a woman, the lyrics were later transformed into a love song, shifting the meaning of the same melody from criticism to affection.

“For this track, I collaborated with Jordanian artist Ahmad Selawy, who performed the main melody on the traditional Yemeni wind instrument Matbag. The track evolves with the vocal arpeggio carried from the previous track and a polyphonic microtonal chord progression into the main melody, which follows the vocal line, before closing with heavy microtonal bass arps surrounding the theme and merging the organic instrument with the electronic world of the album.”

5. “Ghbeshi”

“‘Ghbeshi’ is rooted in one of the region’s most enduring folk tales, a story of love, pride, and defiance. The legend of Ghbeshi and Hasna tells of their love overcoming social barriers, and Ghbeshi’s stand against Glubb Pasha and his troops, remembered through this famous Palestinian chant. For this track, I wanted to preserve the voice of this cultural memory by blending an old folk vocal recording with my own voice. I created a new melodic phrase between the verses, blending guitar and saz, attempting to add a sense of epicness and mystery to the theme of the track.”

Yazan Sarayrah ‘IRTH-TONIC’ album artwork

6. “Galo Anni”

“‘Galo Anni’ is written with original lyrics that reflect on the way heritage is sometimes ridiculed for being old-fashioned. To me, when heritage is treated as something outdated, holding onto it becomes an act of resistance. Musically, the track draws inspiration from Tuareg and Amazigh desert blues guitar techniques, scales and sounds, paying tribute to the Bedouin sounds of the North African deserts and connecting with them through the sonic world of the album.”

7. “Ben Jadlan”

“‘Bin Jadlan’ represents what I see as the true nature of heritage, ideas and wisdom that continue to find new voices across generations. The track is built around a few ancient Bedouin proverbs, beautifully told with a Nabatean poem by Saudi poet Saad Bin Jadlan, reimagined within the sonic world of the album. It opens with a heavy kick and bass and a Rababa motif, which I wanted to sound like a scream coming from ancient times. With heavy arps and deep synth leads, I attempted to carry the emotional weight and intensity this poem holds.”

8. “Ala Msiri”

“‘Ala Msiri’ is a reinterpretation of the iconic 1982 Yemeni folk song by Mohammad Murshid Naji. Through this rendition, I wanted to highlight the simplicity and emotional depth carried within the spirit of this region, while reflecting on the resilience of these traditions despite the many attempts to reduce or redefine this identity as something ‘exotic.’ The track is a celebration of a living culture, allowing this timeless song to find a new breath within the album through new melodies and sounds that I imagined as a companion to the original melody.”