Creative Expression and Identity (Leila Ma Leila)

Creative Expression and Identity
(Leila Ma Leila)
by KnoozRoom
Hamed Sinno: I think there is as much willingness to look into new forms of
music as there is to question what it means to be an Arab in the region in
general.,
It’s a discovery of new sounds and identities, like Arab existential philosophy
dancing to the drumbeat of gypsy, rock, grunge, oriental, seasoned with local
poetry and sentiments. We’re at Mashrou' Leila's music­making session in
suburban Beirut. ,
Firas Abu Fakher: It was a product of the seven of us being in the same room together.,
HS: and us being different from each other and having different musical influences.
Haig Papazian: We have different musical tastes.
Ibrahim Badr: Mostly when we play the songs and we feel something ­ so Hamed goes home
and thinks about the song and lyrics.
and Ibrahim Badr talking to KnoozRoom about what it means to make a musical product in an
Arab World itching for change.,
HS: I think there is a very dense matrix of changes and power relations that
produces or results in the same sort of mentalities that make music and go
down to picket for Arab rights in Cairo.,
The band first gathered in the graffiti ridden hallways of the engineering and
architecture faculty at the American University of Beirut in 2008. Now, they can
hardly keep still as they jet from city to city across three continents performing
at major rock festivals and concerts. This makes them probably the most
international artists Beirut has ever produced and their musical compositions
are a good example of treading between local and global in order to produce
something that properly reflects their experiences as artists.,
HS: A lot of times I write lyrics in English first and then translate them back to
Arabic. I went to an American school and then an American university and as
a result of that, most of the literature that I read, most of the theory that I’ve
read was in English. Intuitively, I think in English. But a lot of what we were
doing was about Lebanon. Especially our first album, [it] was very, very evidently stuff that was
dealing with society and politics in Lebanon and us trying to figure out what are our political
inclinations are and blablabla.... We thought it was important to do it in Arabic. Obviously we did
not want to play anything that we thought was oriental and exotic or world musicy.,
I ask them to explain the jam session that I’ve just been sitting in on. ,
HS: What we were doing all day was something Carl (the drummer) came to
the room with an idea for and we all started beating it up and taking parts from
it and then we restructure everything together. ,
Did you have lyrics already?
No
what were you singing?
Placeholder text...stuff that doesn't really mean much.,
At some point during the session, the music shifts from the song that started as
a simple sequence of piano chords to another one. 95% done they said. Still
gestating but teeming with the energy that had been building up from the start of
the session. What is the song that you’re working on now?
FAF: This one? Ma ba3rif (I don’t know)
HP: It’s a nice song. ,
To break it down and explore what it means like to make a 'nice song' I asked
them to explain the thoughts and feelings behind the making of three complete
'nice songs'. I really would like for you guys to pick three songs ­ one of the
songs that I would like to recommend is 'Shim el Yasmine'
(HS: not gonna happen!)
Jacket. ,
O.K. you don't need to talk about the personal stuff ... teb ok ­ let's say Imm el
HS: Ok, Imm el Jacket is cool ­ the lyrics are by Omar el­Zeeni ­ Omar
el­Zeeni is this very ... old social critic and political satire lyricist (ken yle3ab
3al 3oud) ­ he used to play the oud
FAF: 40s and 50s ­ Beirut....
HS: We came across his stuff in a book and it was incredibly cool how most of the lyrics you
could read in his writings were similar to stuff that Ziad had said and were similar to stuff that we
have said for example in our first album ­ we felt like...BOOF­­Not much had actually changed in
Beirut from the 50s till now.,
<‫ﺑﺮﺩﻭﻥ‬ ،‫ﺑﺮﺩﻭﻥ‬...‫ﺗﻮﺍﺧﺬﻳﻨﻲ‬ ‫ﻻ‬ ،‫ﻣﺪﻣﻮﺍﺯﻝ‬ ‫ﻳﺎ‬ ‫ﺷﺐ‬ ‫>ﺧﻤﻨﺘﻚ‬ ,
Imm el Jacket features in Mashrou3 Leila’s second album ­ el 7al Romansi. In
it, the author ­ that prolific Beiruti poet Omar el Zeeni addresses a woman
sporting a masculine jacket. 'I took you for a man mademoiselle ­ forgive me ­
pardon me ­ pardon me.' ,
HS: He was actually just talking to a woman and saying I thought you were a
man because you had short hair.
FAF: Eh, bas it was cynical. It was meant to be satirical.,
HS: I don’t know. I thought that was something we added. The satire.FAS: Eh,
maybe. It’s not very clear. The lyrics don’t really give you a clear idea of his
intentions. We definitely made it a point to be satirical by virtue of that we’re
singing it alone is already something to give you an idea that it’s not to be
taken too seriously.,
HS: Alright, Shim el Yasmine...Shim el Yasmine is a love song about
someone with a broken heart.,
Also one of Leila’s first major creative feats that propelled to the national and
world stage. It’s in their self­titled first studio album,
HS: And it’s made evident that the song is sung by a man for another man.
And that’s all there is to say about it.,
Were you nervous?
HS: Yes.,
FAF: I like the ambiguity in it. It’s an ambiguous song, because there is a tradition in Arabic
of singing as male in the male tense (to the person addressed).HS: Yeah, but then there’s the Sit
Baytak (housewife) part.FAF: Yeah, but then there are clues that kind of structure off.,
HS: When we play it live, I’d always be very O.K with singing the whole thing
up until that one line (the Sit Baytak part) and then I’d panic and wait for a
tomato or a gunshot or something.,
FAF: It was kind of a pure feeling kind of song.HS: It’s actually cool because it
translates well when we play for audiences that don’t understand Arabic.
They pick up on the sentiment, from the way the guys play I guess, or
whatever.,
A pure example of combining all the elements of oneself, and expressing them
in a vocabulary exclusively local. Shim el Yasmine is personal truth as
hard­hitting, heart­ripping social commentary.,
HS: Writing the first album, was something that...once it was out and there in
the open and the CD was out, and people knew exactly where we stood on
things, it became a lot easier to confront day to day life in the country.HS: It
was almost like I said my part,
But then you have your fun songs, which is why I think we should talk
about...Ra2sit Leila.,
HS: Ra2sit Leila is one of the first songs we wrote. That was a typical way of
writing in a band.,
FAF: It’s a bit of a medley, salata shwayHS: Especially, towards the middle
there’s a part where it completely changes and it goes back,
HS: It’s like seven songs in one. What else? The lyrics are not something I’ll
ever explain...Because only the guys know what the lyrics are about. It’s like our secret.,
FAF: I think it translates live much better than it does on disc or on record.
There’s an energy to it live that makes the song.,
HS: A lot of the stuff on the first album is like that because we were and still are very much a live
band.,
Barcelona, Geneva, the North of France, Cairo, Tunis ... those are just some of
the venues Leila’s performed at last summer. And of course, there’s Lebanon,
specifically, Baalbeck, which is the country’s most elite venue. Mashrou3 Leila
is the first local rock band to ever play there.,
HS: Baalbeck. It’s a bit epic, actually. That’s in July. They’re not getting us
because we’re edgy or whatever. They’re getting us because we’ve been edgy enough for a long
enough time to be of merit.HS: They get Um Kulthoum and Fairuz and Ziad and Sabah...you
know they got all the greats. Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald...it’s a really, really, really big deal.,
Two months later, the band is flanked by the four walls of the Balthus Temple in
Baalbeck. The mood is euphoric, the setting surreal, and Leila is soaking in all the glory.,
You may notice that this is one of the “nice songs” Knooz witnessed the making
of. It’s being performed in Lebanon for the first time.,
Kiki G, an audience member at Leila’s Baalbeck performance:
I loved their concert. It’s the second time that I see them. I remember going to college with them
and these are a lot of the issues that some of the younger generation talk about it. And the fact
that they can implement it into music that is interesting to everybody else, to young people, to old
people, people inside Lebanon and people outside Lebanon, is really admirable. And I really
encourage their future CDs.,
Another audience member: ،‫ﺣﺎﻟﻪ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻰ‬ ‫ﻭﺍﺷﺘﻐﻞ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﺍﺷﺘﻐﻞ‬ ‫ﻭﺍﺫﺍ‬ ‫ﻃﻤﻮﺣﺎﺕ‬ ‫ﻋﻨﺪﻩ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺸﺨﺺ‬ ‫ﺍﺫﺍ‬ ‫ﻳﻌﻨﻲ‬ .‫ﺣﺒﻴﺘﻬﻦ‬ ‫ﻛﺘﻴﺮ‬
‫ﻳﻮﺻﻞ‬ ‫ﻓﻴﻪ‬.,