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New year, new country and maybe even some new content; I'm tired of the interviews, and want to focus more on my creative writing - not to mention the novel I'm working on. Oh yeah.
I'll continue to blog about China (I've all but moved here now) and wondrous Beirut, but I have a couple of other things I'm toying with behind the scenes. If either of them turn out pretty, I'll have a new column to share.
Happy new year. Oh, and I'm buggering off for a month.
For whom the bell tolls
A legend in Lebanese theater, Rafic Ali Ahmad buys me a narghile at the notorious Rawda Cafe and talks about his life.
The bearded mother
You're something of an icon in theater...
Well let me tell you, I act alone and people who act alone typically run three or four shows. It's often an intellectual show. I've held four plays, one man shows, and with each one I've met with great success. I was able to carry them around the world with me. This makes me happy. I was able to create a popular theater out of this style. I like that my audience will have anyone in it from the highly educated to the everyday theater goer.
What do you feel gives you this edge?
They believe me. When I had the spot with UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon], a lady came up to me and said: ‘UNIFIL chose well. It's not that you're an actor. It's that people believe you.' These are the type of words you hear with your heart, not your ears. When I have a play all the Lebanese come, irrespective of their religions. The topics I choose are heartfelt - the emotions of a father, the problems of the youth, the discrepancy between parents and children. My grandfather spoke to my father and my father spoke to me. But I can't speak with my son. There's a different education in place.
You've succeeded where other actors failed...
In one of my plays I say I don't have a tribe. We're a bunch of tribes, aren't we? No matter how educated we get, or how far we travel, we're all just a bunch of tribes. I have no tribe. I'm from a village and in my village we plant an olive tree for every child that is born. I have a lot to talk about - why should I play Shakespeare when there's so much here to talk about? People still believe me and I still have a good name. This makes me fulfilled.
I've noticed that people always associate your name with one particular play, The Bell. Why is that?
It was shown at the right time. I staged it in '91, as soon as the east and west border fell. I didn't talk about the war as such - I talked as a Lebanese citizen who lived in the south, a father who lost his son during the civil war. I lived in west Beirut and staged it in the east. When I took on the role of a woman and cried over my deceased son, the women in the theater cried along with me for their own sons. They loved this woman, with her white beard - even makeup is a lie sometimes. I get up and say :‘I'm Rafic Ali Ahmad and this is my white beard. But this woman I'm playing, she's hurting.'
What is your favorite place in Lebanon?
Wherever I'm sitting down and happy. Anywhere that gives me a moment of clarity. And Beirut is life and civilization, a meeting place of humanities.
Khatchadourian school of rock
Photo by by Tania Traboulsi
Armenian rocker Eileen Khatchadourian has managed to blend traditional Armenian rhythms with rock, and more rock. Here's how she did it.
Why Rock? Do you feel it talks to people better?
I love rock! Many kinds of rock, and I wanted to adapt Armenian music to a style suitable and accessible to teenage Armenians, or simply to Armenians of a certain age, and of course a style my musicians and I would enjoy composing, rehearsing and performing. There is a gothic touch in my music, but it can be generally categorized as Alternative Rock . I am not the one who arranges the songs, my arrangers are Miran Gurunian and Mazen Siblini, I give the go-ahead after debates and discussions, I get to say the final word, isn't that cool? Traditional Armenian songs have never been given a good rock before! This might be one of the major reasons why people enjoy it.
Don't you feel this limits your crowd?
Definitely not! The crowd and listeners are Armenian youngsters, Armenian adults, and non Armenians who like world music, rock, and mostly good music. Music is universal; do you really need to understand the lyrics to appreciate a song? Do you need to be a musician to feel the music?
So what's the point then?
I'm trying to introduce traditional Armenian songs that might very well disappear in time. I want the young Armenian generations to feel their roots, to abide by them if need be. Also, I'm trying to introduce Armenian music to the non Armenians.
We need a drink; what's your favorite?
Fernet Branca!
What she said, and a Jack please. So how about those flashy outfits?
I design my own outfits sometimes, and I've been a stylist for many yeas now, so I put them together. But since I came back to Beirut Krikor Jabotian, my friend and fashion designer, designs my concert outfits. His style is just what I like. It's as if his clothes were made for me
Do you like feathers?
Feathers? Mmm... Now that's the most interesting question I've heard. It depends where and how I am using them.
Emperor Elefteriades speaks
Michel Elefteriades - guerrilla fighter, artist, musician - doesn't even consider himself Lebanese, rather the Emperor of Nowheristan, a state with no land and where everyone is welcome. Provided they pass the test. Where do we sign up?
The folks back in the office kept calling you the gypsy, why is that?
It might be the look that I used to have when I came back to Lebanon after my exile, or maybe it's the fact that I don't really have a home country. I'm as much Cuban as I am Lebanese. I'm French in my thoughts and writing. I used to move around a lot, with a plane as my caravan and I just changed countries as soon as I get bored of a place.
And professions I hear; you've been everything from an artist to a guerrilla fighter, really? Have you managed to find yourself?
It's not like that. I've been all those things all the time. When I was fighting with a machine gun in my hand I was still a musician. After the fight, the machine gun was replaced by a guitar. I'm into music, sure, I have had projects lined up for ten years. Music for me is the best way to express my ideas and make money.
And it seems you're passionate about it.
Yes, of course. I inherited that from my father who's a great musician. My mother also plays piano. But it only became a viable career in my late twenties, when there was little else to do. I've wasted a lot of time and only got into politics in my early teens.
And you've held many successful events...
I have. I remember my Wadih al Safi and Jose Fernandez tour was a huge success worldwide. We sold so many albums, it was almost a shock. The press-book was huge. People for and against the combination had a lot to say about it. I love contrasts - in food, in relationships, aesthetics. I love surprises: whores who look like saints and saints who look like whores, bankers who wear earrings and artists who dress up as bankers. A gypsy and a conservative singer is a lovely contrast, and we traveled all around with it. People loved it.
Hit the brakes
Frem's F1 prototype, his first step towards a life-long dream, is set to open the doors for the Lebanese car-making industry and prove that we too can create.
You've been something of a local hero for over a year now, how does it feel?
The first thing you need to understand is that this isn't about me. My pride is that through my achievement, I've helped push Lebanon's image into the international scene. Today someone in America might be reading about the car built in Lebanon. Under impossible conditions, under siege, the Lebanese managed to be constructive.
This is more than just a car then...
It is. My slogan is: ‘only your dreams can build your country.' This isn't an individual's project. I didn't want it to be about my work. My launch was on the highway, with real people around me, not ribbons and politicians. This was built for them, to open the door for Lebanese car-making.
It isn't a normal car anyway, is it?
It's what you call a supercar. The design and aerodynamics are somewhat out of the ordinary, as they should be. This was born of a dream and is meant to give hope. I didn't give it a diminished status, I parked it next to Class A cars, right from the start. The Frem F1 challenges any other car.
Posts
Help me, I’m linear!
Recent love, or not
- Joanna: Oh wow, I remember her. When I was a kid I used to say she was my mom. Somehow, I had lots and lots of moms....
- Agénor: Final dot missing. Also, could you translate the top cartoon, please?
- Agénor: Outstanding! Both the style and content. You asked questions and didn’t comment at the start of any...
- Joanna: Can I call you Kaal? I could never master the English “arl” sound, and I have to pronounce it the...
- Agénor: It’s not enemies of the environment that they are, it’s just that they don’t care about it,...
- Ants: I was crying of laughter! Wo Ai Ni ya Helo! hehe
- roupen: Ohhhhhh am bored so bored!
))) - Sukoon: hahaha! Wei ni hao? Oh man, at first, I thought you were just being out of control with your need to break...
- Agénor: How come your number ended in their database? Anyhow, thank you for the emotions swing. I’ve felt the...
- Roubenz: What about a photo by you instead of Holden? I have my doubts too
))
Linearity is overrated
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