This is Beirut

Lady Gaga Stuns Rio with Historic Copacabana Beach Concert

This is Beirut, 04/05 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Music Concert Culture Lady Gaga Rio de Janeiro Copacabana

Lady Gaga rocked Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach on Saturday with a free mega-concert that the Brazilian city said drew about two million fans. "Brazil, I missed you so much," screamed the American pop star — in her first Brazil gig since 2012 — before launching into Poker Face on a monumental chessboard, one of many grandiose backdrops in ...

Lady Gaga Ignites Copacabana, Rio Overflows with Fans

This is Beirut, 02/05 10:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Concert Music Rio de Janeiro Copacabana Lady Gaga Culture

Behind his oversized black studded sunglasses, Victor Faro keeps his eyes fixed on the windows of the hotel where Lady Gaga is staying in Rio de Janeiro. He’s hoping to catch a glimpse of his idol before her massive free concert set for Saturday on Copacabana Beach. Wearing plastic goat horns on his head and a curled Dali-style mustache, the ...

Jack Estephan, the Only Bow Maker in Lebanon

Yara Germany, 24/04 18:45 - Reading : less than a minute

musician craftsman bow maker artisan Music

In a country where bow making simply didn’t exist, Jack Estephan trained with master craftsmen abroad to become Lebanon’s only professional bow maker. A passionate musician and meticulous artisan, he is building a rare and essential craft from the ground up.

Huda al-Khamis-Kanoo: Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Heartbeat (1/2)

Bélinda Ibrahim, 22/04 17:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Abu Dhabi Festival Huda al-Khamis-Kanoo Culture Music

This is a house that speaks. Every object is a poem, every piece of furniture a memory. In Kanoo's home, one does not merely enter a dwelling, one steps into an intimate museum where arts, civilizations and stories from across the world converge in conversation. Amid Abu Dhabi's cityscape of architectural marvels and sharp lines, this house is a ...

Pianist Igor Levit to Perform Marathon 16-Hour Concert in London

This is Beirut, 22/04 14:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Music Piano Igor Levit Concert Erik Satie Culture

This Thursday and Friday, acclaimed pianist Igor Levit will undertake an extraordinary feat in London: a solo performance of Vexations by French composer Erik Satie, a piece intended to last over 16 hours. The event, directed by renowned performance artist Marina Abramović, will take place at the Southbank Centre and is being billed as "a test of ...

Matthieu Chedid Revives 'Lamomali' with a Joyful Pulse

This is Beirut, 19/04 10:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Music France Lebanon Africa Matthieu Chedid

Sequels? Not really his thing. “Stuff like Rocky II freaks me out, the idea of repeating the same thing.” And yet, eight years after blending voices and sounds from Mali into a groundbreaking choral album, -M- is back at the helm of a new Lamomali. “At first, I wasn’t into it at all. I thought doing a pale imitation would’ve been a ...

A Duo, Two Pianos, a Thousand Emotions: The Labèque Sisters Enchant Abu Dhabi

Bélinda Ibrahim, 18/04 18:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Abu Dhabi Festival Labèque Sisters Piano Music Culture

For the 22nd edition of the Abu Dhabi Festival, at the Red Theater of NYU Abu Dhabi, Katia and Marielle Labèque captivated the audience. Their recital wove a striking dialogue between Glass and Cocteau, with Ravel as a musical bridge. The evening opened with Glass’s La Belle et la Bête, its hypnotic motifs unfolding across two ...

Mulatu Astatke’s Timeless Ethio-Jazz Legacy Continues Worldwide

This is Beirut, 18/04 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Music Jazz Art Cuture Paris Ethiopia

Mulatu Astatke struggled for decades before his name became associated worldwide with a musical genre, and he was finally born as the father of Ethio-jazz. Now, despite that long journey and his 81 years of age, the Ethiopian music legend cannot even "think about retirement." A one-man band, equally at home with the vibraphone and the conga, a ...

Sweden Goes into Eurovision as Punters' Favorite

This is Beirut, 17/04 14:11 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Music Eurovision Award Television Switzerland Sweden

Eurovision is the world's biggest talent show, featuring 37 national entries, but one country seems to regularly dominate the conversation and the winners' podium: Sweden. With a month to go before the grand finale in Basel on May 17, anything could happen. But Sweden, which has already won the glitzy glamfest seven times - tied with ...

Abu Dhabi Festival: Kuniko Kato Plays Bach and Miyoshi

Bélinda Ibrahim, 15/04 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Abu Dhabi Festival Japan Kuniko Kato Music Bach

Abu Dhabi, Blue Hall, The Arts Center, April 14, 2025 Beneath the sleek arches of this hall nestled in the heart of the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, the 22nd edition of the Abu Dhabi Festival offered more than just a concert that evening. The event opened on a deeply cultural and symbolic note, where music became a bridge between civilizations—echoing ...

Lady Gaga, Missy Elliott Set Coachella on Fire

This is Beirut, 12/04 18:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Music Festival Culture Art

The California desert was buzzing Friday as the premier music festival Coachella got underway, with Lady Gaga and Missy Elliott set to helm day one's main stage. Thousands of music fans traversed the sprawling grounds whipping paper fans and wielding parasols, as temperatures cracked the 100-degree Fahrenheit mark (37.8 degrees Celsius). That ...

The Sound of Music: One Movie, Countless Lives, Sixty Years of Emotion

Bélinda Ibrahim, 08/04 18:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Sound of Music Film Music Homage Culture

We all remember that iconic image: a silhouette spinning atop alpine meadows, arms wide open beneath a boundless blue sky. Picture March 2, 1965—the day The Sound of Music premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York. And now, six decades later, its charm remains as vibrant as ever. Years may have passed, but the first notes of “Do-Re-Mi” or ...

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