Watching Music tells the story of an invisible country, a country that appears on no map, yet one that Lili, Noé, Céline, and Rami have been traveling through forever.
A country made of vibrating amplifiers, guitars leaning against walls, percussion instruments, cables intertwined like pathways, studios where light falls differently, stages where people breathe together, living rooms where a single note can change the atmosphere.
A country whose common language is… sound.
Lili and Rami Mekdachi have photographed this country: concerts, tours, festivals, rehearsals, days and nights of family recording sessions, from Pigalle’s Basement Studio to 4th Street Recording Studio in Santa Monica, suspended moments at Artistic Palace in Paris with superstar Joshua Hong, or in Seattle, London, Beirut, studios one returns to as one returns to friends.
The photographs of Watching Music were born in these places, where time no longer flows the same way, where a note can move the air, where memory merges with listening.
In this country, music connects those who play, those who listen, those who record. Like fragrance, it cannot be seen or touched, yet it moves through everything, invisible and yet absolutely powerful. It opens the doors to memories, encounters, illuminated moments.
This is why Rami holds this book so dear. Because the aesthetic of this musical world –its shadows, colors, vibrations– is a deeply human, joyful, barrier-free place. When one musician meets another from a different culture, distant country, unknown history, they immediately find what they can share: a rhythm, a melody, a breath.
Where language divides, music connects.
This book celebrates in images this invisible country, a land of sounds, gestures, and light, through which Lili, Noé, Céline, and Rami Mekdachi have been traveling forever.
