Amer Chamaa

STATEMENT

Hyperactive, hungry and madly in love. I am a thirsty explorer, never satisfied, always looking for the next thing that changes my life. Creation & performance make me feel alive, they are my reason to exist. I want to touch everything & everyone. I suffer from the delusion that I can do anything. My art is an expression of everything I cannot live. Multi-disciplinary, multi-instrumentalist, multi-dimensional.

BIOGRAPHY

Amer Chamaa is a self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist from Lebanon, born into a family of visual artists. Known for his mastery of stringed instruments, especially the guitar, oud, and buzuq, he has expanded his musical repertoire to include Middle Eastern wind instruments such as the ney and duduk. With a deep involvement in electronic music, both as a DJ and producer, Amer has cultivated a unique sound that blends influences from diverse cultures. This fusion led him to develop what he calls “The Unified Theory of Music,” a vision of creating a global musical language that merges the East, West, and electronic worlds. For Amer, this synthesis is both an artistic pursuit and a humanitarian endeavour, aimed at promoting unity and diversity to help foster peace in the world.

Amer’s musical journey began at 13, when he first picked up the electric guitar and joined his high school heavy metal band, “Ares,” honing his skills in shredding and guitar technique. By 18, after the band’s dissolution, Amer transitioned to DJing, where he could express his creativity independently. He immersed himself in deep techno, house, experimental, and ambient music, building a vast vinyl and digital collection. His DJ career flourished in Beirut, where he held a summer residency at the iconic B018 club and collaborated with Raphael Merheb as the duo patch/wrk. He also co-founded Vellocet, a project that brought underground techno to Beirut, inspired by the Berlin club scene.

In 2015, Amer moved to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, where he worked as an event organizer, booker, and resident DJ at White Rabbit Freiburg. He also hosted solidarity parties supporting refugees at the autonomous center KTS. During this time, Amer rekindled his passion for classical guitar, studying jazz, Brazilian samba, and European classical music, further enriching his musicality.

In 2020, Amer relocated to Berlin, just before the COVID-19 lockdown, which provided him with an opportunity to dive deeper into the acoustic world. He connected with Middle Eastern instruments, using his advanced classical guitar skills to quickly learn the oud and buzuq. Amer began blending his diverse influences, connecting his electronic gear—sequencers, synthesizers, and effects—to create live, traditional improvisations over electronic soundscapes. His goal is to represent the ancient musical traditions in a modern electronic context, crafting a unique sonic experience that he continues to explore.

In 2023, Amer ventured into visual art, picking up painting despite having no prior experience. Being the son of a painter and a photographer, his decision was fuelled by a desire to approach art with a childlike sense of wonder and discovery. This new pursuit has taught him invaluable lessons, and he hopes his time spent painting will help him approach music with a fresh, even more intuitive perspective.

In 2024, Amer joined forces with his father, renowned artist Fadi El Chamaa, to co-direct the art project Sleeping with the Enemy Productions. Together, they also embarked on the creation of Until Peace, a monumental 2 x 7.5 meter canvas that they will continue painting as a symbol of hope, dedicating it to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. In the same year, Amer launched Pain Relief Records, a solidarity-driven label on Bandcamp. Operated entirely on a donation basis, the label channels all proceeds to non-NGO humanitarian projects, furthering Amer’s commitment to using art & music as vehicles for positive social change.

Across his varied artistic disciplines, Amer Chamaa continues to explore the intersection of tradition, innovation, and culture, using his creative work as a bridge to connect the world through music and art.

PROJECTS

PERFORMANCES

  • Club der Visionäre Berlin
  • Sonnenraum Berlin
  • STAUB @ aboutblank Berlin
  • KaterBlau Berlin
  • Mensch Meier Berlin
  • Suicide Circus Berlin
  • Oyster Club Berlin
  • Overflow Berlin
  • Johnny Knuppel Berlin
  • Gelegenheiten Berlin
  • Kulturbunker Bremen
  • Judische Kukltur Tage Düsseldorf
  • B018 Beirut
  • BallroomBlitz Beirut
  • A Tribe called Tribe Beirut
  • Yukunkun Beirut
  • Vellocet Beirut
  • Gärten Beirut
  • Akasha Festival Lebanon
  • Forest Frequencies Festival Lebanon
  • SpaceTalk London
  • Wildt Club Prague
  • White Rabbit Freiburg
  • CSD Freiburg
  • Späti Freiburg
  • KTS Freiburg
  • KAUZ Zürich

EXHIBITIONS

Sleeping with the Enemy Productions – Son of (Gallery Lynn Modallal – 2024)