AMERICAN ZACH CONDON WHO NAMED HIS BAND BEIRUT IS BACK

USPA NEWS - The excellent fourth album of Beirut, "No No No", was released today. Zach and will defend it to the AB on 14 and 15 September. Since December 2013, after hospitalised in Australia for aggravated fatigue, Zach Condon, the talented singer and composer author of Beirut is back.

ZACH CONDON WAS BORN IN SANTA FE AND PLAYS MUSIC WITH BALKAN INFLUENCES----------------------- "I always knew I wanted to be in a band. But growing up in Santa Fe, if I joined my friend's band, these were hardcore and punk rockers “” and I wanted to play, like, accordion and French horn and stuff," he says. "It just didn't fit. So, I was that kid. No one ever gave me grief about it, but it was a kind of lonely pursuit." Said Zach to npr´s Steeve Instep. Beirut is an American band which was originally the solo musical project of Santa Fe native Zach Condon, and later expanded into a band. Beirut's music combines elements of indie-rock and world music. The band's first performances were in New York, in May 2006, to support the release of their debut album, Gulag Orkestar. Condon attended Santa Fe High School, where he was a student until he dropped out at the age of 17. According to a 2011 interview with David Dye on NPR, growing up in Santa Fe meant that Condon was exposed to Mexican music such as mariachi. He also worked at a cinema showing international films and this piqued his interest in Fellini arias and Sicilian funeral brass as well as providing his first experience of Balkan music.----------------------------------------------------------------- He later enrolled in community college, but only attended for a short period before traveling to Europe at the age of 17 with his older brother, Ryan.This discovery and Condon's subsequent exploration of world music proved to be instrumental in the development of Beirut's melodic sound. Zach's younger brother Ross Condon has also made a name in music, having played in the Brooklyn-based band Total Slacker.Despite their name, Beirut had never performed in Lebanon until they appeared at the Byblos International Festival in August 2014. Zach Condon, who also played mandolin, organ, percussion, piano, trumpet and ukulele, came to write his first album in his bedroom, alone. The music was extravagant, international, sort of Balkan “” and all the more remarkable for having been composed and mostly played by a guy who wasn't yet 20, living with his parents in New Mexico.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Condon has also released an EP, Small-Time American Bats, under the name 1971. This was recorded with his friend, Alex Gaziano on guitar and vocals, when they were both around 16 years old (2002). Gaziano is a founding member of Kidcrash, another band originating from Santa Fe, New Mexico.Source: "Beirut Interview"Pitchfork, "Beirut, the band", New York Magazine, rtbe