MASHROU3 LEILA - مشروع ليلى: June 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

youtubewalls desktop

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

popping pills for theatrical gravity

Monday, June 6, 2011

Omar Khorshid - Rakset el Fadaa

Saturday, June 4, 2011

طفيليات تركتها في باطني

تهرج و تستنزفني

طفيليات تركتها في صميمي

وانت لم تعود لي

رميته بين الأمواج

يرقص مع الحوريات

رجمت البحر بدمائي

لونت الموج بدمائي

والصيادون نائمون

والصيادون سابتون

والصيادون خامدون

والصيادون نائمون

والصيادون سابتون

والصيادون نائمون

ينادى إسمك قبل الفجر

وأنت لن تعود لي

رميته في قعر البحر

وأنت لن تعود لي

This is a nation of thieves, I felt. If I steal here, I accomplish no special act that could help me to realize myself. I merely obey the habitual order of things. I do not destroy it.

jean genet, on living in Nazi Germany. From "A thief's Journal" 1930

Thursday, June 2, 2011

بلعت نفسى

كي أصبحك

لصقت صورتك علي وجهي

ومسحت عنقي بعطرك}

{وهمست إسمك في مرآتي

وكليشيهات أخرى

وخلعت ثيابك

ورأيتني أبلعك

وأختنقت على كلامك

كلامك يزبد من فمي

ولساني في قفصه الأزرق

يتخبّط علي إيقاعٍ

تدقّه أيدٍ

لم أطلب طلائها

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Mashrouʼ Leila is not a bandʼs name. It is not a proper noun per se; Mashrouʼ Leila is Arabic for ʻan overnight projectʼ lusting out a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards. It started out as a music workshop at the American University of Beirut in 2008, an open platform for students of architecture and design, somewhere to experiment with sounds and make things audible. Haig Papazian, Carl Gerges, Hamed Sinno, Omaya Malaeb, Andre Chedid, Firas Abou Fakher and Ibrahim Badr have enjoyed this sound fetish savoring its façade of nonchalance and feeding on its lack of genre – sustaining their collective as Mashrouʼ Leila, an experiment.

You can hear Leila, cascading melts of masculine vocals only suspended with thrusts of violin, beats and bass – attacked by neurotic melody that means no harm – sometimes tender, even sometimes on pause. Through the music, you can smell where Leila has been, in bed sheets, on sidewalks, jasmines in riﬂes and spilled coffee on dresses as she made you play with aubergines, dancing her dance. Music has constantly been their place to play with things, to match and mis-match, a project.

In the various performances, Mashrouʼ Leila is a constant attempt to taste and produce, more than happy to harvest anyone from the audience as a guest in their encores. They have performed around Lebanon since 2008, playing in various venues in Beirut, taking over supposed public piazzas as well as clubs, pubs, hybrids and the such – they also played in Zahle, Sour, Jounieh, Saida and Deir el Qamar, each of which pushed forward their thinking about how to go about their music, lyrics and performance. It is only when Mashrouʼ Leila goes live, that you can actually catch a glimpse of Leila. As it talks to you of Beirut, the city that tastes of the absurd, the product of its day-to-day experiences, its stubborn security and lack of the latter, its musical bombshells, incoherent sexuality and thrusting pleasure…narcotic pain – as it brings forward hints of Arabic Tarab, rock, to folk pop, electro, you can see Leila in every man and woman in the silent- come-raving audience. In this trajectory, they participated in music workshops and concerts in Amman and Cairo to maneuver their way into a pan-Arab music scene, to know and to announce, more importantly to grow, musically.

In March 2009, Mashrouʼ Leila won the Lebanese Modern Music Contest jury prize and public vote organized by Radio Liban in partnership with CCF, Incognito and the Basement. They are currently recording their debut album with B-root Productions, to be released in December 2009. The music in the album is a reclamation of the aftertaste; sequel-ing a dose of Beirut.

written by Raafat Majzoub