amelia tabeï | chalaa
Chalaa, Amelia Tabeï’s third album, is another journey guided by the continuous breath of saxophonist Yohan Dumas.
In Alpine Occitan, Chalaa refers to the trace left on sand, grass or snow by the passage of a moving body — human, animal, stone, tree trunk or avalanche. It can also mean a path traced through the snow, or the mark left by a wave across the ocean floor.
Chalaa took shape in the heart of the Cévennes, inside a ten-metre-high circular space: an old 283 m³ wine tank where the reverberation can last for up to thirty seconds.
At the very heart of Amelia Tabeï’s music is the absence of layered recordings. The complex texture of her music comes from a direct, vertical approach, and from transforming the instruments themselves. Two prepared saxophones, alto and baritone, are combined with a kind of wild instrument-making: adapted mouthpieces used on a bass tuba, flute mouthpieces on the baritone and transverse flute, along with percussion and additional microphones.
The instruments are no longer confined to a single register. They create powerful, tangled orchestral structures, along with the shimmering feeling of small sonic planets. Rhythms, harmonics and melodies collide and unfold simultaneously, shifting into something electric and earthy, experimental, with abrasive and hypnotic textures.
The voice and circular breathing are added to the mix, taking part in the trance, as they have on Amelia’s previous albums.
yohan dumas | alto saxophone, transverse flute, extended baritone saxophone, homemade wind instrument
credits
recorded & mixed by Bertrand Fraysse
mastered by manuel duval
artwork by theo revel-bernard
With the support of the labels Silo, Wabi-Sabi, La République des Granges, Les Disques du Permafrost & Carton records
releases october 23, 2026
digital only - ref cat croix-croix 47 - lp & tapes available on the other labels
1 bèu 02:23
2 sho 06:53
3 fer 01:44
4 L’Ostalaria dels ausels 04:41
5 par temps de rage 04:14
6 Organbidexka 01:39
7 Zurzur 02:28
8 vol du vautour 07:20
9 chat-huant 01:58
10 cho oyu 05:09
11 cavale 01:38
supports
drac aura & ville de lyon
press