This is Beirut

"Bkerzay en Musique" Returns: A Cultural Summer in the Chouf

This is Beirut, 19:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Music Festival Bkerzay en Musique Chouf Artists Culture

The “Bkerzay en Musique” festival is back this summer for its second season of live performances in the lush eco-village of Bkerzay, nestled in the heart of the Chouf mountains. The launch of the second edition was announced Friday morning at a press conference held at the Ministry of Tourism, in the presence of Minister of Tourism Laura ...

Eurovision Sparks Creativity in Swiss Classrooms Through Song

This is Beirut, 17:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Eurovision Music Culture Concert Art Basel

Swiss schoolchildren are drawing inspiration from Eurovision and creating their own songs, to be performed before an audience of thousands in the build-up to this year's extravaganza in Basel. "It's exciting to see that we're all going to sing together" on stage on the sidelines of the Eurovision Song Contest, said Tessa Cajani, a pupil at a ...

Eurovision 2025 Kicks Off in Basel With Parade and High Hopes

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

Eurovision 2025 Music Television Parade Switzerland Culture

The Eurovision Song Contest comes shimmering into Basel on Sunday with a glitzy parade kicking off a week of high-octane revelry building up to the May 17 grand final. The Swiss city is pulling out the stops as it hosts the 69th edition of the light-hearted TV spectacular that celebrates kitsch and pushes the boundaries of taste. While Europop ...

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 ...

music