Illustrations by Jaimee Lee Haddad
Deep in the Beirut summer, weekends can sometimes feel listless. The heat makes you drowsy, the traffic is static, even the humdrum whir of the generators sounds lethargic.
When it’s too hot to move or leave the cool confines of your air conditioning, you may find it invigorating to read stories that inject some movement into your Saturday lounging.
This week’s selection covers the rhythms of alternative music, a dance everyone in Lebanon knows by heart or a story that at least figuratively transports you to a long-lost oasis for 1920s Beirutis escaping the heat.
Beirut Sonder Stories steps off the screen
Rayane Tawil takes us to the first live Sonder Stories night at Station Beirut, where seven admirable people share their most intimate stories with a room full of strangers — offering the first opportunity for us to connect with these people in the flesh.
The thud of the switch, the flicker of lights, the scramble for the phone torch — it’s a unique experience that everyone in Lebanon can relate to. It has also inspired an award-winning art installation showcased at the prestigious Art Basel fair.
Meet eight Lebanese indie artists who defiantly challenge the adage that “Modern music is dead.” The likes of Taxi 404, Blu Feifer and Bonne chose blurred genres, drawing on a kaleidoscopic range of influences, including classical, hip-hop, electronic and even Palestinian resistance songs.
And if you don’t find your song of the summer among those artists, perhaps you’ll be inspired by Al Mehdi’s new track “ENCORE” which fuses the sounds of his Amazigh heritage with melancholic piano and punchy techno beats — a hypnotic sound with powerful visuals to match.
Despite the incessant crises that have knocked the country, Lebanon’s design tradition continues to be nurtured. Fifi Abou Dib reports on Lebanon’s fashion school graduation shows this month, holding promise for the Elie Saabs and Zuhair Murads of tomorrow.
“Before the highway, before the silos, there was a beach. A stone's throw from Achrafieh, Medawar was the refuge for Beirut families.” Georges Boustany shares an image, taken in the 1920s, that tells the story of what the city has lost.
