Rumman's music festival in Mina, Tripoli, on Sept. 6, 2024. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today / Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today)
“Thank you for having me, and Tripoli is happy to have you,” said rapper Hamza Abdelkader, better known by his stage name Dowar, as he concluded his performance on Friday in the heart of the Mina neighborhood.
Amid the conflict and economic crisis plaguing the daily lives of people in Lebanon, many still gathered Friday night in Tripoli for Rumman's second annual music festival — the only independent event of its kind in the city, which was canceled in fall 2023 due to the war in Gaza.
Ziad Naboulsi (R) and Al Waili (L) perform at Rumman's music festival on Sept. 6, 2024. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today / Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today)
“To us, this is not just a music festival,” said Mohamad-Yahya Tahan, Rumman’s Events and Administration Coordinator.
“It’s our way of uplifting our city and making our voices heard. It’s also a way for us to revive the music scene in the country, one that has been heavily impacted by the war.”
This year, the three-day festival was revamped and moved to Studio Kawalis, a former movie theater turned music venue. Rumman oversaw the building's transformation, which was completed just in time to welcome more than 450 guests.
“We just finished fully renovating a few days ago,” said Tahan. While purchasing tickets online and upon entry to the festival, attendees are invited to donate to funds supporting artists in Gaza through the Delia Arts Foundation.
The show must go on
This year, the city was designated as the Arab world’s cultural capital — a title it was awarded in 2023 but postponed because “the municipality was not adequately prepared at the time,” and lacked the resources to hold multiple cultural events, Mohammad al-Tannir, co-founder and director of Rumman told L’Orient Today last year.
After five years of economic crisis, which has disproportionately and more harshly affected Tripoli and North Lebanon, Lebanon’s cultural scene is now being severely impacted by the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon and the war in Gaza. Rumman has had to contend with limited financial resources, cancellations due to regional instability and a persistent sense of despair that almost led them to give up. Yet despite these challenges, Rumman, the performers and the city remained committed to the importance of their work.
Soot Gilgamesh perform at Rumman's music festival on Sept. 6, 2024. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today / Illustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad/L'Orient Today)
'Levantine rap is political. It’s our way of resisting.'
“To me, once the war began, I stopped writing and performing,” said Raed Gheneim, a Palestinian rapper known as Soot Gilgamesh, who took the stage after Dowar. “But throughout these past 11 months, my outlook on the importance of our work changed.”
“Rap in Levantine countries is unique in its own way because it’s political, it’s social,” he continued, “Now, I believe instead of stopping we need to go bigger. It’s our way of resisting.”
Standing against the bright animations projected on what was once the cinema screen, Soot Gilgamesh told his story of growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Standing in the crowd was Samia Sbeiti, 72, dancing along to his music.
“This is my first time watching a rap concert,” she laughed, adding that she never usually misses a music show in Tripoli.
Samia Sbeiti and her friend attending Rumman's music festival on Sept. 6, 2024. (Credit: Renee Davis/L'Orient Today)
“I was even here yesterday for the first day of the festival,” Sbeiti said.
The first day of the festival focused on Lebanese rock music, while Friday night was about amplifying the Arabic rap scene — hosting Lebanese resident-artists Dowar and Soot Gilgamesh and Egyptian rapper El Waili.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see all these people coming here,” Sbeiti said. “As people from Tripoli, we are frustrated about the way our city is portrayed in the media.”
Instead, what the streets of Mina saw that night was hundreds of people coming together not just from Beirut, but from areas further north and south of the capital. Even outside the venue, local shop owners who may not have been familiar with Rumman or the festival welcomed guests warmly, blasting Lebanese music, setting out chairs for shisha smokers and hosting their own impromptu gatherings, eager to be part of the festivities.
People dancing in the streets of Mina, Tripoli, on Sept. 6, 2024. (Credit: Renee Davis/L'Orient Today)
“For once, Beirut came to us,” said Loulwa Kalassina, 24, from the crowd, “I feel like the music scene had been dead here for a while, so it’s amazing to see it revived again.”
“Usually in Beirut, you find musicians from all over the nation, who have come to find their spaces,” said Dowar, “While that is great, we need to start moving these spaces to cities outside of the capital.”