soc.culture.lebanon FAQ, part 5/5
Alaa Dakroub
Archive-name: lebanon-faq/part5
Last-modified: 1997/4/6
Version: 2.37
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40. Are there published CDs (Compact Disks) about Lebanon and the levant in
general ?
The following annoucement was made on sc.lebanon recently (mid Nov 1994):
Very exciting line of multimedia CDROMs just release by Future Publishers
for both Macintosh & Windows in Arabic and English:
View of Islam - A multimedia Tour
This interactive CDROM rom cover the Islam religion in very exciting way.
It covers Beliefs, Heritage, Arts, the Koran, History and more. It is
packed with about 600Meg of information. It is a perfect reference
information and resource about Islam.
Retail price $99.95 Special introductory offer until Jan 95 $54.95
English version available on both Mac & Windows
Lebanon- Pearl of the East
This title is a Multimedia Encyclopedia about lebanon covering History,
Geography, Tourism, Economy, Culture and Heritage of Lebanon including more
than 500 photos, 200 films s well as text and arabic music clips in an
interactive and exciting way.
Retail Price $69.95 Special introductory offer until Jan 1995 $39.95
Both Mac & Windows version available
Arabic version available on Mac
Syria - History & Culture ; Available for the Mac only
This disk is packed with information about Syria (450Meg of information)
similar to Lebanon CD it covers wide range of areas about Syria including
pictures, movies, and Arabic music.
Retail price $69.95 Special introductory offer until Jan 1995 $39.95
Arabic version available on Mac
The Lamp of Aladdin -
This interactive CDROM tells the story of the Famous lamp of aladdin. It
narrate the story in 3 different Languages Arabic, French and English.
Retail price $39.95 Special intro offer until Jan 95 $29.95
If you are intersted in getting any of the above CDs call or mail Future
Publishers USA branch, at the adress and phones listed below:
Future Publishers
174 Knightshaven way
San Jose CA 95111
Toll FREE number : 1-800-381-1242
Fax: 1-408-281-3666
Visa, Mastercard, American Express and checks are accepted. Please call us
or send us letter at the above adress if you need any other info
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41. What are the adresses of World Wide Web/FTP/Gopher sites of Lebanese
people and dealing with Lebanon in general ?
Actually I have a long list of people that I collected over the net
and the days. But since I did not ask yet these persons if I'm allowed to
include their URLs to the FAQ I'll start the list with some well known ones.
Hoping that the next version of the FAQ will carry more info. [Upon your
contribution of course].
So here we go:
o The SCL Home Page:
http://huez.eurecom.fr:8080/ a part of it can be also obtained
via ftp:
ftp://huez.eurecom.fr/SCL/
Maintained by Alaa Dakroub
o Soc.Culture.Lebanon FAQ:
http://huez.eurecom.fr:8080/faq.html
o Alaa Dakroub Home Page:
http://huez.eurecom.fr:8080/dakroub.html
o Soc.Culture.Lebanon People:
http://huez.eurecom.fr:8080/People/
It hosts introduction pages of SCLers.
Maintained by Adonis Al-Fakih
[The www.cica.fr is no more valid for the SCL Home page]
o Almashriq - Levant Multimedia Servers:
http://www.ludvigsen.hiof.no/webdoc/levant_servers.html
Maintained by Borre Ludvigsen
This server is now mirrored on:
http://www.hiof.no/almashriq/
or
http://www.hiof.no/ludvigsen/webdoc/levant_servers.html
Connection should much faster to these new URLs.
o Borre Ludvigsen Home Page:
http://www.ludvigsen.hiof.no/webdoc/borre_ludvigsen.html
Also Borre home page is mirrored on:
http://www.hiof.no/ludvigsen/
o MIT Lebanese Club Home Page:
http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/lebanon/leb.html
o Alex Khalil SCL T-shirt home page:
http://www-ee.tamu.edu:80/~iskandar/
o Bassem Medawar Mosaic Home Page
http://rama.poly.edu/medawar/
o Arabic Software Map by Isam Ishaq
http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ishaq/arabic/asm/asm.html
o Lebanon On-Line Resources by Philip Abi-Rached
http://www.lebanon.com/
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42. Where can I find Arabic Musical Instruments ?
I remember a while back (several months ago) someone posted asking for
information regarding musical instruments, and where he/she might
purchase them. There's a store in my town called Other Ports that
sells them and a myriad of other imported items from all around the
world. Here's the address and phone number:
Other Ports
202 W. North Street
Normal, Illinois 61761
(309) 454-5071
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43. Are there any arabic instrumental music CDs ?
Try the following:
Taqasim, Simon Shaheen and Ali Jihad Raci, label: Lyrichord.
In Boston, this is available at HMV and Tower in Harvard Square
I expect it is available in other major cities. I believe the CD
is made in the US, and is not pricy.
Shaheen plays the 3oud, and Raci plays the Buzuq, and they go on
conversing musically for about 50min. This is one of my favorites.
Mounir Bachir, various CD's, various labels
Mounir Bachir is one of the greatest. There are a couple of recitals,
and a Mushwar ma3a l-3oud which is accompanied.
Nassir Shamma
Histoire d'amour orientale, label: Institut du Monde Arabe.
I was at a recital in Cambridge, MA, last Sunday. He is fabulous,
and different. His technical mastery is superb, and his compositions
are daring. Shamma plays conventional 3oud, in addition, he plays
one-handed, and also two-handed with all fingers (not just the pluck).
This is definitely something worth listening to
The CD is distributed thru World Music Distribution 707-588-9164;
the CD # is 503102.
The label: Al-Sur. They're coming up with some very interesting CD's
lately; there may be a 3oud CD among them. I recently picked up "L'art
sublime du Ghazal" (2 vols, Qanun and vocals), and "Maqam Baghdadi" (I
haven't opened it yet).
For more, call Beit Al-Fikr, 617-923-0264, ja...@world.std.com; they have
a large variety of Arabic music CD's of all kinds.
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44. Are there Lebanese movies ? Where I can find them ? Can you give
some opinions about these movies ?
Data and History:
Lebanese movies industry exists since decades now. The war affected
the production of the films as it affected anything else.
The sixties was the heydays of Lebanese cinema. The Lebanese cinema
"was" lyrical and poetic and touched on some heavy topics without
being heavy handed and propagandistic.
A good source for data on movies in general is the "Internet Movie
Database": http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/search.html Actually only the
data of few films is availble. People should think of adding Data they
know of.
List of known films:
1.Al-Risalah (1976) 6.2/10
...aka Message, The (1976)
...aka Mohammad, Messenger of God (1976)
2.Ana El Awan (1994)
...aka Histoire d'un Retour (1994)
...aka Time Has Come (1994)
3.Bayar al khaouatem (1965)
4.Biya el-Khawatim (1965)
5.Homme Voile, L' (1987)
...aka Veiled Man, The (1987)
6.Kanya Ya Ma Kan, Beyrouth (1994)
...aka Es war einmal Beirut - Geschichte eines Stars (1994)
...aka Il etait une fois Beyrouth - histoire d'une star (1994)
...aka Once Upon a Time In Beirut (1994)
7.Kanya Ya Ma Kan, Beyrouth (1994)
...aka Es war einmal Beirut - Geschichte eines Stars (1994)
...aka Il etait une fois Beyrouth - histoire d'une star (1994)
...aka Once Upon a Time In Beirut (1994)
8.Leila wa al ziap (1984)
9.Whither, by Georges Nasr
10.Red Roses, by Georges Qa3ee
11.al-isar, by Samir Habchi
...aka the Tornado
12.ana al-awan, by Jean Claude Qodsi
Where to find:
Check out the Arab Film Society in Seattle... they have a Web Page, Look
them up via Yahoo. They feature a lot of Lebanese movies...
Opinions:
[Each personal opinion is included within two lines of '-']
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A couple Lebanese productions came out in the last 3 years : "al i@Sar"
and "ana l-awan" ("the Tornado" and "the time has come"). The first one
is a very well made russian/lebanese production, with great
cinematography and msuic (both by Russian artists).
The second one was directed by Jean Claude Qodsi, and although I haven't
seen it, many of my friends have and they all agree: it's a terrible
waste of money and talent. Nothing about this film is good except the
Music (by Toufic Farroukh ).
On a more positive side, I know that there is a lot of young talent
which is blooming in Lebanon. A recent short film made by young director
Eliane Raheb (shot by a French cinematographer) won a prize at the
Venice film festival if I remember correctly. I saw the film, and it was
quite interesting. The film was about a movie theater in Zahle which was
being closed down, a welcome change from the "return" motif that is
omnipresent in modern Lebanese art.
There are also other young directors who are working on interesting
projects. Some names to look out for in the next 5 years are Jean
Jebran, Sarmad Louis, Hagop Dermagosian (sp?), and others.
Another flourishing film sub-industry is the Video-clip industry. Many
serious directors are being commissionned by the different TV stations
to work on video clips for Lebanese songs. Some of the videos are made
by foreign directors, but most are totally local productions. One
director who has done some good work is Charles Saleme, who made the
videos for "baladiyyatu Bayrut" (by Ousama Rahbani), as well as "ba@d
el-li kaan" (by Marcel Khalife). Samir Habchi has also made at least one
clip.
These clips are facing a lot of pressure from censors in Lebanon, by the
way. The government is VERY sensitive to anything that might touch its
image, and the least reference (or perceived reference) to anything
governmental (i.e. Holy) is facing censure... Maybe the ministers just
want to pocket some barTil so they make the artists' lives difficult.
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45. Where can I find Lebanese and Arabic books ?
International Club of Arabic Book has opened a book store south west
of Chicago.
Please note the change of our address:
al-Nadi
International Book Club
7216 West 90th Place
Bridgeview, IL 60455
Tel (708) 233 - 9590
Fax (708) 233 - 9566
Office Hours: Noon - 7:00 PM
Saturday - Friday
To get our complete book list (if not member yet) please send your
snail adress or stop by if you are in the neighborhood.
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46. Do you have any information about the Lebanese community in Canada?
The Lebanese community in Canada is one of the largest outside
of Lebanon. It numbers some 175,000, more than 66% reside in the city of
Montreal in the province of Québec, and almost 20% in the Provice of
Ontario.
The Lebanese community in Canada is distributed as follows:
Canada Total 175,000
City Province Size
- Montreal, Québec: 110,000
- Ottawa, Ontario: 23,000
- Toronto, Ontario: 8,000
- Québec City, Québec: 5,000
- Calgary, Alberta: 5,000
- Edomonto, Alberta: 5,000
- Windsor, Ontario: 2,000
- Gatineau, Québec: 2,000
- Vancouver, British Columbia: 1,000
- London/Hamilton, Ontario: 2,000
- Halifax, Nova Scotia: 2,000
- Winnipeg, Manitoba: 1,000
The first recorded Lebanese immigration to Canada was in 1880.
The first Lebanese grocery store in Ottawa on Elgin Street: Bouchey's in
1882.
Montreal has the largest Lebanese community in North America.
There are about 10 Lebanese supermarkets in Montreal and another 10 in
Ottawa.
The best known Lebanese newspaper in Canada is al-Moustkbal (11,000
copies weekly) and is distributed in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto.
Arabic books are sold at Middle East Bookstore on Décarie street in
Montreal and in al-Mutawasset Bookstore in Toronto.
The Lebanese community has about 30 performing artists specially in
Lebanese pop and folk music.
A word on non-Lebanese Arab communities in Canada is useful:
Other Arab Canadians (90,000) concentrate in Toronto and Montreal: the
Maghrebine (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) community (20,000) and the
Egyptian community (50,000) reside mainly in Montreal, while eastern
Arabs (Jordanians, Plaestinians,Iraqis, Syrians) (35,000) reside mainly
in Toronto. There are smaller Arab communities around Canada numbering
less than 1,000 each.
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_____________________________________________________________________
Alaa Dakroub | 'al-'arD waTanI wa al-'insAnyah 'usratI
Sophia Antipolis | La terre est ma patrie et l'humanite' ma famille
France | The earth is my fatherland and humanity my family
| (Gibran Khalil Gibran)
------------------ http://www.eurecom.fr/~dakroub/ ------------------