{"id":6857,"date":"2026-11-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/irtijal-made-in-lebanon\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:00:00","slug":"irtijal-made-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/fr\/irtijal-made-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Irtijal | Made in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Beirut&#x27;s long-running international festival of experimental and improvised music, founded by Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Irtijal<\/strong>, Arabic for improvisation, is an annual festival of experimental music in Beirut. Trumpeter and comics artist Mazen Kerbaj and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui organized a first concert in 2000, and the first official edition followed in 2001. What began as a one-day event grew into a festival of several days, with free jazz, free improvisation, noise, contemporary classical, post-rock, experimental electronics and sound art. Concerts move between independent venues; the 2023 edition used Zoukak Studio, Beirut Art Center and Mkalles Warehouse. The festival gives space to Lebanese and diaspora musicians and to debut performances, alongside international guests such as The Necks and Senyawa. It marked its 25th anniversary in 2024 and has also co-produced events abroad, including the Borderline Festival in Athens.<\/p>\n<h2>Brand Information<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Brand Name<\/th>\n<td>Irtijal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Based In<\/th>\n<td>Beirut<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Founded<\/th>\n<td>2000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Founders<\/th>\n<td>Mazen Kerbaj, Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui Abdelnour<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Products<\/th>\n<td>Annual experimental music festival, free improvisation and free jazz concerts, noise and electronic performances, sound art, commissioning series<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Where to Buy<\/th>\n<td>Tickets and schedules announced on the festival website and social media<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Website<\/th>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/irtijal.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">irtijal.org<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Instagram<\/th>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/irtijalfestival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instagram.com\/irtijalfestival<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Description<\/th>\n<td>Beirut&#x27;s long-running international festival of experimental and improvised music, founded by Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Irtijal at a glance<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>First concert in 2000, first official edition in 2001<\/li>\n<li>Marked its 25th anniversary in 2024<\/li>\n<li>Covers free jazz, noise, improvisation, electronics and sound art<\/li>\n<li>Held across independent Beirut venues like Zoukak Studio and Beirut Art Center<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who is behind Irtijal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mazen Kerbaj<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabculturefund.org\/News\/26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arabculturefund.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sharif Sehnaoui<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabculturefund.org\/News\/26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">arabculturefund.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Christine Sehnaoui Abdelnour<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/scenenoise.com\/Features\/irtijal-inside-beiruts-longest-running-music-festival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scenenoise.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>When is Irtijal held?<\/h3>\n<p>It runs once a year in Beirut over about three days, usually in spring. Check irtijal.org for current dates.<\/p>\n<h3>What kind of music will I hear?<\/h3>\n<p>Experimental music in many forms, from free improvisation and free jazz to noise, electronics and sound art.<\/p>\n<h3>Where do the concerts take place?<\/h3>\n<p>At independent venues around Beirut. Recent editions used Zoukak Studio, Beirut Art Center and Mkalles Warehouse.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources and further reading<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"sources\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabculturefund.org\/News\/26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Irtijal Kicks off the 19th Edition (AFAC)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/scenenoise.com\/Features\/irtijal-inside-beiruts-longest-running-music-festival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Irtijal: inside Beirut&#x27;s longest running music festival (Scene Noise)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/today.lorientlejour.com\/article\/1333848\/odes-from-the-frontiers-of-sound.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Odes from the frontiers of sound (L&#x27;Orient Today)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.easteast.world\/posts\/528\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2024: Global Music Festivals Not To Be Missed (EastEast)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beirut&#x27;s long-running international festival of experimental and improvised music, founded by Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui. Irtijal, Arabic for improvisation, is an annual festival of experimental music in Beirut. Trumpeter and comics artist Mazen Kerbaj and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui organized a first concert in 2000, and the first official edition followed in 2001. What began [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irtijal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/irtijal-made-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irtijal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beirut&#x27;s long-running international festival of experimental and improvised music, founded by Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui. Irtijal, Arabic for improvisation, is an annual festival of experimental music in Beirut. Trumpeter and comics artist Mazen Kerbaj and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui organized a first concert in 2000, and the first official edition followed in 2001. What began [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/irtijal-made-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Made in Liban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-11-03T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tarek Riman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tarek Riman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Irtijal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/irtijal-made-in-lebanon\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Irtijal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban","og_description":"Beirut&#x27;s long-running international festival of experimental and improvised music, founded by Mazen Kerbaj and Sharif Sehnaoui. Irtijal, Arabic for improvisation, is an annual festival of experimental music in Beirut. Trumpeter and comics artist Mazen Kerbaj and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui organized a first concert in 2000, and the first official edition followed in 2001. 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