Mazen KerbajMazen Kerbaj

Mazen Kerbaj, born in 1975, lives and works in Beirut. His main activities are comics, paintings, and music. He has published eleven books and many short stories and drawings in anthologies, newspapers, and magazines in Lebanon, Europe, and the USA, and exhibited his work in solo and collective exhibitions in Lebanon, France, England, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Dubai, Malaysia, and the USA.

Kerbaj is also one of the founders of the Lebanese free improvisation scene, both as a trumpet player and as an active member in the MILL association, which organizes the annual Irtijal festival (www.irtijal.org) in Beirut since 2001. In 2005 he launched Al Maslakh, the first label for this music in the region (www.almaslakh.org). In 2009, after fruitful collaborations with Lebanese cult punk rock band Scrambled Eggs, he launched a new sublabel, Johnny Kafta’s Kids Menu (www.johnnykafta.com), to produce alternative and experimental rock music from Lebanon. Between 2000 and 2011, Mazen Kerbaj played solo and with various groups in the Middle East, all around Europe, and in the USA. Regular and occasional partners include Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui, Raed Yassin, Charbel Haber, Franz Hautzinger, Lê Quan Ninh, Bertrand Denzler, Stéphane Rives, Mats Gustaffson, Guillermo Gregorio, Gene Coleman, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim Baker, Jack Wright, Michael Bullock, Vic Rawlings, David Stäckenas, Martin Küchen, Axel Dörner, Ricardo Arias, Jason Khan, The Ex, Jarrod Cagwin, Thomas Lehn, Joe McPhee, Raymond Boni, John Butcher, and Martin Blume.

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