The reason is that they didn’t expect Jad Khoury’s (aka Potato Nose) installation would generate this much of a buzz. Solidere is infamous for not only their land-grabbing of the Central District, and forcing the rightful owners out of their lands to build empty, expensive ghost-towns they thought Gulf rich folks would buy, they’re also extremely vain.
Solidere LOVE the attention, even for things they had nothing to do with, either financially or logistically. Anyone who ever wanted to shoot something in the Central District, knows that they charge you thousands of dollars for each hour, even though it’s a public space in our very own capital.
Why The Burj El Murr Installation Butthurt Them
The artist obviously had the necessary permits, given he was even allowed in to the former snipers’ nest which now has a Lebanese Army base the first few floors. As anyone who ever tried to go into such buildings, you’d know how hard that is. So, permits and permissions obviously aren’t the problem here.
The same artist painted the Holiday Inn hotel a few years back, and even though that one wasn’t as well-received as the Burj El Murr one, with a lot of people furious at what they felt “defaced” Beirut’s most famous war-time remnant right in the middle of Beirut’s fanciest resorts and hotels, he still was allowed to execute the huge mural. This indicates that this artist has always had the necessary permissions, given the Holiday Inn is also a Lebanese Army base on the first few levels.
Solidere wants credit for everything done in the plot of land they occupy in the Lebanese capital. If you want to organize something there, without making money from it, you just need to slap their logo on it, and you’re good to go. If you’re making money from it, then the process is obviously much more difficult.
It seems that even though Solidere didn’t object to the artwork, and waited many days before they did, indicates that they were upset the artist didn’t mention them as a sponsor or organizer, even though they had absolutely nothing to do with it. This explains their tight-lipped responses to the media, and why their “cease and desist” letter to the artist had no specific reason, just “safety reasons”. It also explains why they waited this long, and sent mixed signals, before sticking to their guns at the end.
Now, unless curtains can murder someone if they fall on your head, I don’t see where the risk is. As for the risk to the artist, the concern should have been preemptive, not asking him to scale the entire dangerous building again for no reason but their vanity and pettiness.
Where’s the Government?
It seems Solidere is more powerful than the Municipality of Beirut and the Ministry of Culture. All of these governmental bodies and institutions gave their blessings, and expressed their support for the art installation even. But, as usual, private evil corporations seem to be more powerful than the government’s local and national authorities.
Shameful. Too bad we’re back to that heinous dildo from the Civil War days…Here’s hoping Solidere will figure out how to make money from it and turn it into something useful, or at least pleasant to look at.
Till then, let’s all make sure everyone sees this artwork, and knows Solidere stopped it.
Anxiety and disgust spiked in the weeks running up to the severely disappointing parliamentary elections in Lebanon, thanks to the horribly lame, ugly and dishonest election campaigns that littered our streets, buildings and trees.
Candidates are supposed to make sure all their horrible faces are removed from our eyesight after the elections are over, but just like they neglect the duties misguided people elected them for, they neglected to remove their photo-chopped faces from our streets.
Earlier tonight, I was going back home, and while walking on Pasteur Street, I noticed this epic collage:
Then, a few hundred meters down the street, I saw another one:
Art with a Message
Too often these days, folks are discouraged by art that is obscure and way too abstract. Too much input from the artist is needed before you wrap your head around what he or she is trying to say.
These collages are the perfect example of art that has a message, that needs no further elaboration to click in viewers’ minds. The artist took garbage left over on our walls after the elections, and transformed them into a beautiful, funny and poignant message that is relevant in Lebanon today, especially for young Lebanese.
Civil Marriage, Now.
Sectarianism is the stage 4 cancer that has metastasized in every nook and cranny of our country. From politics, to basketball games, awards ceremonies and family dinners. No matter how much we try to change that, or condemn it, or claim to be against it, the fact of the matter is that as long as personal status laws are governed by religious courts and institutions, sectarianism will always be the stick in Lebanon’s bike wheels.
How can a country’s citizens feel equal if we have 18 different laws that govern their personal lives and relationships, who they marry, what they inherit and who gets custody of their kids? How can we expect sectarianism to fade, if we need to force a man or woman to change their sect in order to be with the person they love? How can our communities become closer, if it’s illegal for them to mix without bowing down to archaic religious laws with no proper civil government oversight?
Lebanon needs civil marriage, and most of the politicians who ran in the past elections promised to make at least voluntary civil marriage a thing. This artist’s collage was a subtle, yet brutal reminder of that.
Here’s to hoping this becomes more than a dream and a nice mural on Beirut’s streets. Here’s to civil marriage happening on Lebanese soil, in front of Lebanese courts, instead of in Cyprus or Greece.
Disgust is a feeling that is becoming more and more common when one thinks about Lebanon and its out-of-control, corrupt, bootlicking government.
Over the weekend, and despite the elections being over and no one left to pander to, the Governor of Beirut decided to shut down The Garten because five weeks ago a foreign artist shuffled through local radio stations, and a few seconds of what turned out to be verses from the Quran being recited was played at the club. Here are the details:
What Happened
A page that is a known collaborator with the Internal Security Forces (ISF), and is regularly shut down by Facebook for its incitement of hatred, violence and murder, edited and looped a video shot more than 5 weeks ago, to try and suggest that all the club does is play Quran verses as people dance. Then again, what would you expect from a bunch of angry, religious incels on Facebook?
What’s interesting, and shows you how filthy and disgusting religious fundamentalists are, is that they knowingly waited 5 weeks, so the holy month of Ramadan starts, in order to begin their suspect smear campaign. So, the spineless scumbags that run this page and do the dirty work of Lebanon’s corrupt security forces, waited for the opportune time to try and maximize the damage their doctored video might do. For someone that pretends to care about their religion, it’s weird they waited more than a month to show their fake, misplaced outrage.
This proves that the disgusting page that shares names and addresses of people, and encourages their “fans” to go and kill them, is just a group of bottom feeders with an agenda that the government in Lebanon seems very keen on adhering to for some reason.
What’s Going to Happen
The Garten will reopen, because the abuse of power by governmental institutions running to suck the dick of ISIS-wannabes, luckily isn’t the law in Lebanon. The courts decide the fate of businesses and clubs, not appointed employees who think their job makes them our moral police, and whose “investigators” wait for a shittily edited video on a hate group page on Facebook to “act”.
Growing Threats to a Liberal Lebanon
What disappoints me the most, is that the garbage government, the world’s most corrupt, acted hours after the video was shared. They don’t act when someone takes over a public beach, or our friends are gunned down on our city’s streets. I wonder why?
Not only that, but dozens of frustrated incels who probably got rejected from ISIS, clearly threatened the club, clubgoers and the club employees with suicide bombings, beheadings, throwing grenades, burning the place down and other barbaric acts that the disgusting religious fundies think is how humans in a civilized country behave.
Were any of them arrested? Did an investigation get opened? Does the governor of Beirut and the ISF think their job is to be a moral police for what’s played in a club? Do they not feel that hunting down potential terrorists who are openly threatening law-abiding citizens with Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi threats, is part of the job we pay them with our taxes for?
Weird how you can threaten beheading and suicide bombings, and the government does nothing, but if you dare speak about the president, prime minister or speaker of parliament, the full force of the government will fall on your head within minutes.
Offense is Taken, Not Given
The verses from the Quran weren’t a conscious decision taken by the artist to defame or insult a religion. It just happens to be that many radio stations in Lebanon air religious stuff 24/7, both Muslim and Christian. This is like when Christian fundamentalists think that slippers with the English flag on them is an insult to Christianity, since there is a cross being worn on people’s feet.
Get a grip people, and move to Iran or Saudi if you want to be this stupid, ignorant and hateful all at once. Heck, even Saudi is becoming more progressive than the religious extremists in what’s supposed to be a tolerant, open-minded Lebanon that uses critical thinking and rational thought to form opinions, not obvious lies meant to tickle people’s sectarian obsessions.
The artist was stopped, and apologized immediately when he found out what he had inadvertently done. The club’s statements also apologized for any offense this incident, 5 weeks ago, might have caused.
We Still Have Faith in the Judiciary
It’s clear that the ISF and governor of Beirut will always side with the religious extremists, and overstep their mandates to pander to those vile religious extremists. Our faith lies in Lebanon’s judiciary, who despite the best efforts of Lebanon’s corrupt government, has shown it has plenty of reasonable judges who cannot and will not be coerced by violent religious extremists, or the politicians egging them on.
The Garten will be back soon, a place to escape the religious cesspool we live in for a few hours, in a place where everyone loves each other, and no one threatens with beheadings and suicide bombings over a badly doctored video shared on a Facebook page that will hopefully be shut down again for their constant calls for murder and violence against people who have not been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
More than a club
To everyone who thinks it’s just a club, it’s not just about the club with 200+ employees, who helped put Lebanon in the news for more than our garbage crisis and corruption. If you add this incident, to the rising censorship and bans in the country, a clear pattern emerges. Whether it’s tampering with ballot boxes to ensure those demanding change don’t win the seats the people gave them, or jailing activists and journalist for speaking out. Whether it’s banning movies, or censoring theatrical pieces’ scripts. Whether it’s letting would-be terrorists free and on our streets, or appointed officials thinking they are a moral police with unlimited power.
This threatens the entire scene. This is why people need to stand up to the religious extremists, so that the government learns that we aren’t pushovers, and we won’t be casualties in their attempts to please their ultra-conservative followers. This weekend it was The Garten, who knows who could be next.
Let’s hope appointed officials, paid with our taxes, stop taking brash split-second decisions based on coaxing and threats from extremists, and consider the social, economic and ethical underpinnings of their hasty, bootlicking decisions.
A special thank you to all our moderate Muslim friends who condemned the threats of violence and murder from the extremists giving them a bad rep. We know the extremists are a tiny, tiny minority, but one that’s exceptionally loud with their ignorance, violence and hatred.
Miss Kittin was the cherry on top of an amazing night at the Boiler Room x Ballantine’s in our very own Beirut! I personally enjoyed her set the most, and it was definitely the peak of the night for me.
The crowd was electrified, having been buttered up by five amazing acts, they were ready for the Miss Kittin treatment to wrap it all up. Her singing on the microphone coupled with her performance was sublime. I highly recommend you watch the video below if you weren’t lucky enough to be there live!
I had the pleasure to ask Miss Kittin a few questions for the occasion, and here’s what she had to say:
Gino: You’ve been to Beirut before, what was that first time like? Also, how do you think the Boiler Room x Ballantine’s night will be different?
Miss Kittin: My first trip to Beirut was very emotional, because I was told about the history by Lebanese friends and met incredible people really trying to change their country. I just embraced it like a « first time ». Beirut is full of light, resiliency.
“Beirut is full of light, resiliency.”
I played at The Grand Factory, on top of a mattress factory, one of these places full of history — majestic, an example of the past and future of Lebanon. The atmosphere transports you.
For Boiler Room, I didn’t know what to expect, but it took place in a warehouse with the same feeling, like Berlin used to be. The kind of place where anything is possible.
Gino: Your music is definitely versatile, and you have collabs with very different artists under your belt from Felix da House Cat to Sven Vath. In which segment of electronic music would you say you’re most comfortable or excited in?
Miss Kittin: I don’t know. It’s all human adventures, choices of the heart. I think it’s still what drives me, the connection with people, to let them inspire me, and I suppose that’s why my style is versatile, to be able to express myself in every situation, understand and interact with any universe.
“It’s still what drives me, the connection with people.”
I always say DJing is more comfortable because I practice it every weekend for more than a two decades, and it’s very joyful to use other people’s music to speak for me. Again is an exchange of universes. When composing, you must go out of your comfort zone and expose yourself much more, you have to dig deep and ask yourself who you are, what you want to say and I need that challenge to grow just as much.
“When composing, you must go out of your comfort zone and expose yourself much more”
Gino: What would you say to producers and music lovers in cities like Beirut that are slowly but surely cementing themselves on the world’s music and clubbing map?
Miss Kittin: To use their peculiar environment and existence to build their own style. To surely not try to fit into the rest of the world just to be accepted as an artist. Our difference is our strongest strength.
Our difference is our strongest strength.
Gino: What would you say to artists who are unsure about coming and experiencing Beirut?
Miss Kittin: I’d say it’s extremely important for an artist to perform in places where political and social situations are fragile. Because culture and sub-cultures are a nest for spirits who can change things. Our contribution can bring them the energy to encourage change, and therefore, it makes our job much more useful. You learn and feel gratitude from these experiences.
“…sub-cultures are a nest for spirits who can change things.”
Gino: Can you tell us about your process when preparing for a Boiler Room set? Is it just like any other party, or is there something special in the preparation?
Miss Kittin: It’s definitely not like any other party, first of all because it is broadcast around the world. Many DJs would use it as a promotion tool playing their typical kind of set, but you should take it further. For my first Boiler Room in Paris, I told Dubfire “no techno”, I wanted to take this chance to show another side of us that people deserved to get to know: our roots, where we come from. And we even dressed up for the occasion.
“Many DJs use it as a promotion tool, playing their typical kind of set, but I feel you should take it further.”
For this one, I didn’t prepare much, as I had 2 weeks off before, I wanted to listen to what Beirut inspired in me, see and experience the location and crowd before putting the first record.
The summer’s finally, officially here. Many of you might still be doing your finals, but others have just graduated and are enjoying the last few weeks as a free person before becoming an adult with office hours and responsibilities and bills to pay. The rest of us, look forward to these Beirut weekends to release some of the pent-up stress from all the traffic, our jobs and just life generally here.
It’s been a while since The DnB Project got together for a live performance. Or maybe it just feels that way cause it’s hard to get enough of this trio. Join Liliane, Bashar and Fouad for a selection of music styles from across the spectrum of electro-acoustic drum’n bass, and genres like jungle, dub and ragga.
After Mother Nature decided it wasn’t time last Friday, Decks on the Beach kicks off this Friday at Sporting Club Beach! I don’t know about you guys, but I for one can’t wait for Decks on Fridays to be back, and just realized that we’re basically summer now, officially.
If you’re not quite ready to move outdoors, and prefer the comfort and warmth of places you feel like home, then Jade’s got you covered with one of his legendary all-nighters at Reunion this Friday! I wonder if Reunion will be moving for summer too? *wink wink*
It’s the third instalment of the Thursday celebration of oriental music at The Grand Factory this Thursday. Party like your parents probably did in the 70s and 80s, just with a better sound system. Hearing Amr Diab’s Habibi Ya Noor El Ein on Funktion Ones was quite the experience for me last time!
Ollie Daze is back to where it all started, up in the mountains of Laklouk near a large lake! Partying, camping, extreme sports… you name it! It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, and you can either spend the weekend there, or come the day you prefer! Party starts at noon on Saturday, so make sure you head there early and make use of the awesome weather, location and people!
It’s that sweet spot between the closing of The Grand Factory, and the reopening of AHM, where C U NXT SAT moves to venues that are at the beach, or up in the mountains.
This Saturday, starting 6PM, Magdalena, Nesta, Sammy Dee and Tala will be at Loco Beach resort in Batroun! It’s also an extra special evening, because it’s Nesta’s new, much-anticipated album launch as well!
With all the international acts crowding Beirut’s clubs every weekend, it’s refreshing to see Beirut’s very own superstars take the decks for a change. After all, who knows better than them what the crowd here loves?
Personally, the main driving force pulling me under the pyramid that night is the LIVE show by Three Machines. If you’ve seen them before, live, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you must. That’s not all though, Jixo & Danz, Romax and Tia will be spinning sets till the early morning, and that legendary Garten sunrise!
According to the band, Apple’s iTunes in the region decided to walk back on their decision to ban some of the songs that the company felt was “inappropriate” for us Arabs. They cited a “content aggregator” was behind the pulling of the 5 songs, and expressed “regret” and promised that the album in its entirety would be available again on iTunes.
Congrats! Glad to see that standing up to censorship by big corporations worked this time, in hopes the song will inspire a more critical thinking, tolerant and progressive Arab world.
UPDATE: Apple’s iTunes has walked back, and promised to list all the album’s songs. Congrats! source
This morning, Apple’s iTunes Middle East proved they are an unethical corporation that is helping quash freedom of expression in the Arab World.
Al Rahel Al Kabir (The Great Departed) is a Lebanese band known for their brutal (but beautiful) criticism of religious fundamentalism, political oppression, military rule and other problems people in the Middle East face on a day-to-day basis (and have suffered under for decades).
Apple’s iTunes ME said one of the songs violated its policies on cover songs, but the rest, they claimed is “inappropriate” for Arab audiences, as the band posted on their Facebook page:
Most surreal of all is the justification given for the censoring of these songs — that they are “inappropriate for the Arab world” because of their “political” and “religious” content, and their “sarcastic” nature. (source)
In response, the group decided to pull the rest of their album “La Bombe”, from Apple’s iTunes. I applaud them for this, because if there’s anything worse than government-sponsored censorship and oppression, it’s big corporations that make money off us censoring arts and culture.
It’s that time of year again where we pause to reflect on human rights violations against the LGBT community around the world, and how best to overcome them. Lebanon’s LGBT community is an amazing one, and stands out in comparison to countries in the region. However, Lebanon has a long way to go till equality is reached, which is why IDAHOT events in Lebanon are so important. (IDAHOT stands for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia)
You can check out Proud Lebanon’s page on Facebook here for more details and to RSVP. I recommend you pass by Cantina Sociale tonight at 7:30PM for the storytelling night, where 6 speakers will talk about their personal experience with equality, inclusion, exclusion and more. You can check out the event here.
Helem is organizing a series of events for IDAHOT 2018 as well, which you can check out here on their page.
An interesting event is their Drag King show tomorrow at Madame Om, starting 9PM. We’ve had quite a few drag queen shows in Beirut, so it’s awesome we have a drag king show scheduled for this year’s IDAHOT! Check out the event here.
For a more serious event, Helem is holding a conference on May 16, 2018 at Station Beirut. The title of the conference is “The LGBTQI+ community: In between the violations and the recommendations”. You can find out more here.
Beirut Pride have done an awesome job compiling many of the events happening for IDAHOT 2018. To find out what Beirut Pride is up to from 12 till 20 May, you can go here and check the full schedule.
Monday, May 14, 2018 6pm — 8pm / Announcing the Corporate Pledge / Batchig 8pm / Arabic Reading of “Ogres” / Zoukak Theatre Company 10pm / Discussion about the play followed by a party / Zoukak Theatre Company
Tuesday, May 15, 2018 9.30pm / Launching Party of Seen Noon Magazine / Bardo
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 8pm — 10pm / Queer Poetry Evening / Madame Om 10pm / Launching of the rainbow-inspired-gender-fluid garments / Ego Beirut
Mosaic are holding a talk today at AUB on “Gender Minorities: Social, Medical and Legal Challenges”. You can find out more here.
Forgive me if I missed something, but I tried to get a full picture of all the events happening. I wish that many of the events didn’t overlap, so more people could go to more events. Maybe next year?
Jana Saleh’s appearances at Stereokitchen are always something very pleasant to behold. This Thursday, the party starts early and wraps up in time for you to go home and sleep before heading to work or class on Friday morning.
If you’ve got an itch for some good hip hop, then Reunion is the place for you this Thursday, with T on the 1s and 2s and my boy Chyno doing his live thing we all love. DNK will be the night’s special guest. It’s also the last The Hood night for the season, so make sure you don’t miss it OGs.
DECKS IS BACKKKKK! If there’s one thing that signals that summer is officially here, it’s Decks on the Beach every Friday at Sporting Club! The boys are flying in Suara’s Superlover straight from Berlin for this evening by the sea, beloved by so many! I personally can’t fucking wait!
For the final edition of Friday Night Live this season, the guys at The Grand Factory have gone all out. Wassim Bou Malham will be performing as “WASS”, live, for the first time ever at Reunion. Wass has been cooking up something super special, and I can’t wait to finally listen to what he’s been preparing. To make the deal even sweeter, Sasse is joining in from Berlin, along with our dearest Tala!
Electric Sundown is back this Friday, with Underher’s dark, melancholic live electronic act ushering in the seaside sunset at Iris Beach Club. MAFT and Nami will be on the decks too, and I for one miss seeing them both!
B0 is teaming up with Moon Republic this Friday, to bring you guys Mihai Popovicu, supported by Ziad Ghosn and Pablo! This Romanian artist breaks away from the hard-hitting Techno his country has become known for in recent years, and keeps the warmth, emotion and dreaminess alive in his sets!
This one’s for the hardcore Techno fans in Beirut. It happens in an out-of-the-way factory somewhere in Mkalles, entrance and drinks are affordable, most people will be dressed in black, and there’s just one strobe to help you see in the dark. This instalment features Berlin-based Melania, alongside live sets by Stephanie Merchak and Nour Sokhon & Dayna Ash, as well as sets by Renata and Zuhour! Tickets are for 20,000LL (or 15,000LL if you email them to get on the door list)
The Ballroom Blitz is back in Stereokitchen, with Bradley Zero headlining this Friday with a live set. Rami O and Jack the Fish are on the lineup as well. Tickets are for $10 at the door.
So, right before moving to AHM for the summer, C U NXT SAT have teamed up with Red Bull and Souq to bring something truly spectacular to The Grand Factory. Beirut favorite Viken Arman will be joined by the LEBANESE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA! Those of you who know me, know that the only thing I love almost as much as electronic music, is classical music. So, needless to say, I’m going crazy for this evening at The Grand Factory.
As if that wasn’t enough, Acid Arab will be in Reunion, along with Tala and Rita, and Wass and Zed will be in Soul Kitchen!
RA’s ranked second artist JACKMASTER is at The Garten this Saturday, along with our favorite flying Dutch man Romax and a much anticipated 3LIAS set back at The Garten.
If you haven’t already heard, MARCH is opening its Beirut cultural hub, garden, cafe and recording studio this Saturday afternoon. Read up on it here, and I’d love to see you there to experience what we’ve been working hard to create the past year!
My dear friend Hady Chehlaoui’s birthday was on Sunday, and as is tradition with Hady, he doesn’t accept birthday gifts or that his friends and loved ones pay entrance fees to venues. Instead, he encourages them to donate to charity, and this year, he’s chosen the awesome folks at Himaya, who protect children from all types of abuse. Entrance is free, but you are encouraged to donate whatever you wish to help Himaya in their mission. You can also get your old toys to donate! So, bonus points for helping others while partying ❤
Hona Beirut comes after the huge success of MARCH’s Kahwetna in Tripoli. What started as a cafe staffed and run by former fighters in Beb El Tebenneh and Jabal Mohsen, quickly grew into a cultural hub that houses not only a cafe, but a recording studion, a cinema/theater and dozens of capacity building classes, events, exhibitions and performances.
In Beirut, MARCH felt that the need for public, safe green spaces was dire, which is why after months of scouting, our team found a disused plot of land owned by the Municipality of Beirut, just across from Horsh Beirut. After removing all the rubble and old cars and motorcycles, MARCH set out to install its prefabricated structure, as well as plant the surrounding outdoor space. This is the gorgeous final result:
Hona Beirut
The Grand Opening THIS Saturday
This Saturday, we have a jam-packed lineup at Hona Beirut, and we can’t wait to have you there! You can RSVP on Facebook here.
Several bands, rappers, circus performers and DJs will make sure you have an amazing time, with several of the acts on the roster debuting in MARCH’s many projects in Akkar and Tripoli.
Hona Beirut will be run and staffed by young men and women from Beirut’s most marginalized neighborhoods, such as Tarik Jdideh and Khandak El Ghamiq and more. The cafe comes with an adjacent recording studio, where nascent talents who live in our beloved capital can come, create and record their music, free of charge!
Apart form that, Hona Beirut will have many classes offered, such as language courses, computer skills, graphic design, photography musical composing, songwriting, choreography and much, much more.
Most importantly though, Hona Beirut will be a safe space where the city’s youth can come and hang out and have a good time. It will create stable jobs, and help the young men and women who frequent it build up their CVs and skills to get the jobs they seek.
Lastly, Hona Beirut transformed a plot of land that was used as a dump, into a beautiful green space that is accessible to everyone every day, unlike most parks in Beirut which are off-limits for most of us!
Gino's Blog 