LEBANON SUMMER HEATS UP WITH STAR-STUDDED FESTIVALS
By Natacha Yazbeck
Agence France Presse
June 19 2009
BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanon is due to kick off star-studded summer
festivals with the likes of legendary British bands Deep Purple
and Jethro Tull set to rock the country as it seeks to break with
past turmoil.
The first festival opens on Saturday night with an open-air concert by
Canadian music icon Loreena McKennitt, who will sing against a backdrop
of Phoenician ruins in the ancient port of Byblos north of Beirut.
Tull is scheduled to perform in Byblos on July 19.
Summer music and dance festivals usually attract thousands of visitors
and are a boon for Lebanon’s trademark tourist industry but in past
years they often had to be cancelled because of wars and political
crises.
Lebanon hosts three prestigious festivals which overlap from June to
the end of August.
"These festivals are a tradition — Baalbek is still there, against
all odds," said Leila Bsat of the Baalbek International Festival,
which was halted during the 1975-1990 civil war.
The Baalbek International Festival, which was officially launched in
1956 and is the oldest in the Middle East, runs from July 4 to August
13 and is held in the shadows of spectacular Roman temples.
The Bejart Ballet of Lausanne will kick off the festival with a tribute
to the late choreographer Maurice Bejart, while Deep Purple will play
Baalbek on July 25.
Vacationers in Lebanon make up a large number of concert-goers and
officials foresee a boom in tourism after a year of relative calm
that culminated in a general election on June 7.
"There is a big difference this year and there are a lot of tourists
coming in, first and foremost expatriates," Bsat told AFP. Lebanon
is also a popular destination for Arabs from oil-rich Gulf countries
in summer.
"Last year, the May events hampered the summer season and the
festivals, so some bands didn’t want to come to Beirut," Bsat said.
Tourism in Lebanon had taken a beating in recent years after a string
of political assassinations following a Beirut bomb blast that killed
ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005.
In 2006, many festivals were called off due to the devastating
July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah and again in 2007 over
the protracted political crisis and a deadly standoff between the
army and Islamist militiamen in a Palestinian refugee camp.
Sectarian violence in May 2008 left more than 100 people dead and
brought the country close to another civil war before tempers cooled
and foreign mediation brought about a degree of stability.
But the shows have reclaimed their original popularity this year,
organisers say.
Demand is especially high for performers like French crooner Charles
Aznavour, whose Armenian roots strike a chord with Lebanon’s large
Armenian community, and Gabriel Yared, the Oscar-winning composer of
Lebanese origin.
"Aznavour is fully booked," said Wafa Saab of the Beiteddine Festival’s
executive committee. "And it’s a premier for Yared in Lebanon, where
he is going to play the piano."
The Beiteddine Festival, from July 2 to August 15, is held in a
palatial 19th century residence in the Shouf mountains, an area of
green hills and traditional villages southeast of Beirut which is
popular with tourists.
"It’s even better than last year," Saab told AFP. "In fact, it may
well be the best season since 2003."
Tourism made a dramatic recovery in 2008 with the arrival of 1.3
million visitors to the Mediterranean country and officials hope
Lebanon will woo two million tourists by the end of 2009.
Arab artists who will perform at the festivals include Iraqi crooner
Kazem Saher, the Lebanese dance troupe Caracalla and the Palestine
Youth Orchestra.
There will also be tributes to the late Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum and
to the late Lebanese composer Mansur Rahbani, who left his stamp on
scores of enduring songs and musicals.