Centre
CONCERT
Wake Island and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: خُلق/هُجر | Born to Leave
- Performance
- Album Launch Show
- Music
- Immersion
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PHI Centre
Espace 1
407 Saint-Pierre St
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3
Album Launch Schedule
8 PM: Video game release
9 PM: Show start
All ages
Price in advance: $25.75
Price day of the event: $30
*Fees included, taxes not included
Before visiting, please review some essential information about the visit, including details on accessibility at the Centre.
For more details on safety measures in place at the PHI Centre, visit our COVID-19 page.
What is it like to immigrate to North America as an Arab? Wake Island explores this question in a tryptic featuring an immersive live performance with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, a spatial audio listening experience and a role-playing video game.
Presented by
Photo: Ali Kays
During the last two years, Wake Island adapted their 2021 album, Born to Leave, into a video game, centering themes of immigration and Arab identity. A true work of collaboration with a team of Lebanese creatives in Montreal, the project is finally seeing the light of day with this unique, multi-faceted presentation at the PHI Centre.
On May 3, immerse yourself in a live music performance of the game’s soundtrack by Wake Island and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, featuring a video installation by Giotto—remixing the game’s 3D visuals.
Then all week long at the PHI Centre, from May 1 to 7, you’ll also be able to discover and play the game in the window displays of Galerie 1, and visit the Habitat Sonore: Listening room to experience the exclusive premiere of the album’s spatial audio mix.
About the artists
Wake Island is a music duo originally from Beirut and now based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal and composed of Philippe Manasseh (he/him) and Nadim Maghzal (he/him). Through their music, they attempt to reconcile their Arab roots with their North American lives, infusing Middle-Eastern sounds into a wide range of original music ranging from pop songs to electronic and ambient compositions. Wake Island has cemented its place in their local Arab and Queer scenes with their live shows, DJ sets and Laylit, a party and collective they co-founded that celebrates the diversity of music from the Arab/SWANA region and its diasporas.
Photo: Mohamad Abdouni / Styling: Charles Nicola
Photo: Mohamad Abdouni / Styling: Charles Nicola
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh is a Lebanese-Canadian artist, record producer and musician based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal.
In 2006, he co- founded the legendary studio Hotel2Tango, where he has produced, engineered and recorded well over 200 albums. In the early 2010s, he founded his multimedia music project Jerusalem In My heart, with whom he has toured internationally and released 4 albums to critical international acclaim. Outside of Jerusalem In My Heart, he has contributed to several collaborative recordings on various other labels, including Asadun Alay Records, the imprint he co-founded. His compositions incorporate electronics and electro acoustic buzuk treatments performed with Arabic traditional and contemporary modal singing. (cont.)
Radwan has also participated in many dance and theatre performances in Montréal as an actor, performance artist and musician. He composes music for film and dance regularly, and is currently creating his debut dance performance, to be premiered in 2025.
Radwan has created a body of work that challenges and re-imagines Arabic contemporary music and culture. He has carved a niche for himself within this world by re-envisioning what his cultural identity is and its place in the contemporary music and arts scenes.
He is currently working on his debut solo album.
Experience more with Habitat Sonore
Listen to the spatial audio mix of the Born to Leave album by Wake Island. Available exclusively in our listening room.
Dolby Atmos Mix
Centre
Habitat Sonore: Listening room
May 1 → August 11
Tune out outside noise and immerse yourself in one of Montreal's only spatial audio listening rooms. The artists: Daft Punk, Wake Island and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, KALLITECHNIS, and a playlist of local artists
Experience
Music
Dolby Atmos Mix
Centre
Habitat Sonore: Listening room
May 1 → August 11
Tune out outside noise and immerse yourself in one of Montreal's only spatial audio listening rooms. The artists: Daft Punk, Wake Island and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, KALLITECHNIS, and a playlist of local artists
Experience
Music
Photo: Born to Leave album cover, Wake Island
Project credits
Web (KNGFU)
Creative producer: Ghassan Fayad
UX & Design: Colas Wohlfahrt
Lead Developer: Jerome Leveneur
Developer: Will Fahey
Animation and Post-Production
Creative & Art Direction: Ali Kays
2D & 3D animation, motion design: Ali Moghnieh, Ali Kays
Compositing, Chroma keying: Rupak Pariyar, Ali Kays
Matchmoving: Rupak Pariyar, Ali Kays
Technical Direction: Ali Moghnieh
VFX supervision: Ali Kays
Photogrammetry scan: Daniel Grozdanov (Imagine360)
Character modeling & rigging: Muhammad Shehroz, Muhammad Nasir Arshad
Character animation: Ali Moghnieh, Ali Kays
Video production team
Creative producer (film): Béatrice Moukhaiber
Director of photography: Saad Abas
Art Director: Azar Yazbeck
Camera operator: Saad Abas
Machino: Alexandre Michaux
Logistics Assistant: Wissam Asswad
Additional camera: Béatrice Moukhaiber
Music
All tracks written, produced by Wake Island with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh
Mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at Hotel2Tango in Montreal
Mastered by Harris Newman
Artwork by Hatem Imam
Writing
Story by Wake Island (Nadim Maghzal, Philippe Manasseh)
Grants and project consulting (Envision Management)
Ryhna Thompson
Michael Langiewicz
Coralie Gauthier
Thank you
Hoda Adra
Katherine Ouimet
Christine
Presented by
With support from
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