Premiered in November 2024 at Le Guess Who? and Ancienne Belgique, I, the hybrid and the antidote finds Chlela delving into sound design, electronic beatmaking, and artistic collaboration in an effort to forge her own path and advance a complex dialogue about the politics and pains of migration. At its core, the project consists of a series of “Phases” in which she works with regionally-specific rhythms and scales, analyzing and dissecting them using synths, field recordings, and her computer. Intricate rhythms snap and ricochet in unexpected directions. Grainy streaks of distorted noise intermingle with mutated samples and haunted synths, creating an atmosphere of transfixing tension. Born out of spontaneous improvisational creation, the tracks bring to life an inner logic of vulnerable feelings and sonic musings.

To truly create the antidote to a bifurcated existence, Chlela turned to a group of multi-instrumentalists and multi-disciplinary collaborators from her home region to bring the music to life. Cairo’s Nancy Mounir and Montreal’s Radwan Ghazi Moumneh joined Chlela in the live premiere of I, the hybrid and the antidote. Backed by the Flare Quartet (an Utrecht-based string quartet), the artists will fill out the recorded segments of Chlela’s “Phases” with deeper shadings and arrangements.