(artistic) work to be prosecuted
ME
Morshed Dandash
Daily Star correspondent
The head of the Baalbek Festival Committee apologized on Sunday for what she
termed a mistake in one of the texts featured on opening night: it angered
local MPs because it contained a reference to Israel.
"What happened during the opening concert by Fadia Hage in the Song of
Solomon was the result of an unintentional mistake," May Arida explained.
The text in question is based on Old Testament's Song of Solomon, and
includes the following passage:
"Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! About it are 60 mighty men of the
mighty men of Israel, all girt with swords and experts in war, each with his
sword at his thigh, against alarms by night. King Solomon made himself a
palanquin from the wood of Lebanon."
Several Baalbek-Hermel MPs contended that the songs in this concert held
in a Hizbullah center should not refer to Israel and asked for Arida's
resignation. The controversial passage was cut from Saturday's presentation
by the same ensemble.
"Baalbek-Hermel MPs, some of whom have watched the performance, ask that the
Baalbek Festival Committee be removed and be replaced by a new one that
would take into consideration the offerings of the city and its artists,"
the group said during a Saturday news conference in Hermel.
Defense Minister Ghazi Zeaiter, who is also a Baalbek-Hermel MP, and
colleagues Marwan Fares, Assem Qanso and Ibrahim Bayan were on hand for the
news conference.
"Furthermore, we also ask that the people responsible for this (artistic)
work be prosecuted," they added.
The Baalbek Festival opened on Friday with a two-part concert, Anachid,
featuring an orchestration of old and modern poems composed by Zad Multaka
and Marcel Khalife and sung by Hage.
"The committee allowed the performance of a poem that dates back thousands
of years. Aside from the harm the poem generates, it also undermines the
national sacrifices offered by this region," the group said.
The officials accused the committee of presenting a "suspicious artistic
work based on the Song of Solomon that opposed the goal the organization has
set for itself."
It went on to criticize the artistic value of the performance, saying that
it was "below the artistic standards and skill of Lebanon."
Bayan said he would meet President Emile Lahoud to discuss the matter and
said that Arida had expressed her readiness to resign.
He added that Arida told him that she could not bear responsibility for the
incident because the artists did not show her the text prior to the
performance.
ME
Love poetry mixed with ancient and modern texts glow against Temples'
splendor
Baalbek
Warren Singh-Bartlett
Special to The Daily Star
It is difficult not to be impressed by Baalbek.
The soaring columns and ornate walls of the Temples of Jupiter and Bacchus
are a thousand times grander bathed in the golden glow of the spotlights and
a hundred times higher against the velvet star-studded canvas of a midsummer
night's sky.
The overwhelming surroundings mean that even the greatest of performers have
to work that much harder if they are to triumph over the historical splendor
that surrounds them.
Luckily for festival-goers, Friday night's opening performance, an evening
of ancient and modern texts and love poetry set to resolutely contemporary
Classical-meets-Arabic music proved more than capable of matching the
surroundings. But this should come as no surprise when the music is composed
by Marcel Khalife and Zad Moultaka and performed by singer-siren Fadia Tomb
Hage and Abdelkarim Chaar.
Musically speaking, the first half of the evening was easily the most
audacious; the score and the arrangement a fierce fusion of contemporary
Classical and Classical Arabic strains. At times this fusion faltered,
producing a sound that was part Disney and part Broadway musical while at
others the marriage was more successful with the stunningly lyrical text
accompanied by a poignant, often unsettling score full of passion and dark
emotion.
The second half was given over to more commercial songs, reinterpretations
of old standards, which often had the crowd singing along, most audibly
during Chaar's take on Shawki Bazih's Shahwet Mabukkura and then Qasem Hadad
's Al-Mousiqa, which Hage turned into a musical magic carpet ride.
After the sturm und drang of the first half, these arrangements were pure
pleasure and the audience, though clearly captivated by Anachid, visibly
relaxed, except perhaps during the duet between Chaar and Hage, his earthy,
rasping tones mixing awkwardly with her sweeter sound.
Resplendent in a flowing gown, Hage was every inch the princess, her dulcet
tones almost eclipsing the best efforts of the Boulogne-Billancourt
Orchestra and the Louaize University choir to keep up. Her voice soared as
high as the columns of Jupiter and was possessed of a richness fit to rival
the finest Bekaa Valley vintage. Khalife's sole offering of the evening was
sheer magic, an utterly seductive and often otherworldly journey through a
lilting aoud version of Mahmoud Darwishe's Amur ba Ismak.
A pity then that the sound system left much to be desired. The speakers were
all treble and not enough bass, leaving the performance sounding tinny,
stripping all but the most heart-felt pieces of their depth and warmth.
Nor was the evening without its interruptions. Trilling cell-phones and even
the odd cigar or two seem to be the price audiences pay for outdoor
performances these days and pass almost unnoticed.
But this being Baalbek, the performance was not complete without the evening
azaan. Rather than raise the volume, Hage simply waited for the faithful to
be summoned before resuming with a stunning acapella interlude. The poignant
and somewhat racy lyrics provided a lively counterpoint, somehow
accommodating rather than competing against the call to prayer.
Far more distracting was the decision of one of the temple-side cafes to
mount its own answer to Baalbek. During quieter moments, strains of Najwa
Karam and swirling drumbeats drifted across the courtyard, causing heads to
turn and tongues to click in consternation. But the performers,
professionals all, were unflappable, particularly Hage, who remained the
epitome of effortless elegance throughout.
Without even seeming to try, she filled the evening air with her
honey-colored vocals, her voice at times faintly reminiscent of that
ultimate Lebanese Diva, Fairouz.
With the choir keeping crisp counterpoint and the orchestra adding their own
distinctive Classical-Arabic fusion touch to the score, Anachid delivered in
full opening eyes, ears and hearts in the process.
And if the opening strains of the first half left the audience somewhat
disconcerted, the standing ovation at the end was both genuinely felt and
genuinely deserved.
Baalbek is clearly off to a flying start.
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