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Yara Abi Nader
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Beirut cafes and some of its streets were stirred Friday night with songs from the project "Leila" at a time when the group was scheduled to perform at the international festival of Byblos and was canceled under religious pressure. l & # 39; church.
The musicians celebrated the alternative concert of the project "Leila", where a festival entitled "The Sound of Music Up" is held at the Palace Theater in Hamra Street in Beirut, while the surrounding cafes of the city were dedicated to their songs.
The alternative ceremony carried the slogan "for the homeland" organized by the Center for the Defense of Freedoms (heavens) and the participation of activists, artists and journalists.
The Byblos festivals canceled the group's concert "to avoid bloodshed," said the statement after a protest by church leaders accusing the group of blasphemy.
In front of an audience of more than 3,000 people, according to the organizers, we read "The repression is not a project".
In its letter, the group expressed its refusal to turn the Lebanese society into a society "in darkness".
"Tonight, August 9, we were supposed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our group with our families, our friends and our audience," she said in a letter read by activist Jumana Talhouk. At least the simplest freedoms are allowed. A future where censorship and self-censorship continue to keep us from expressing ourselves, our hearts marvel at the support we receive even from people who do not like our work but have refused to see our society sink into the dark.
The concert of the Laila project presented at the concert a video clip to be broadcast before the Byblos concert, entitled "Radio Romance".
The song "El Gin", to which the Christian religious authorities of Lebanon had already objected, was performed on stage because it offended the religious values.
Actors Badia Abu Chakra and Nada Abu Farhat appeared on the stage to deliver a speech on behalf of the concert that surpbaded all pressures and threats.
Abu Shakra said that on Friday, August 9, "he's transformed day by day to prevent repression. We cancel the victims, silence the crime and see the crime afterwards. "
Abu Farhat said on behalf of the women: "We are all students who need to learn in their national university.We are all activists who write his opinion despite the prosecution of information .. And I face to this regime what remained in us stops our situation. "
Abu Farhat spoke of women victims of violence on a daily basis, but who do not resort to violence and do not threaten to "shed blood".
She demanded the freedom to choose her artistic cultural project.
Abu Farhat told Reuters that she had attended and participated in the ceremony because she believed in a civilized country, that she was rejecting religious anger and was threatening the art. "I do not cancel anyone and I support the cause of the Laila project".
The musician and oud player Ziad Sahab declared that this was a natural place for any musician sensitive to the danger of the domination of religious institutions over works of art.
He added: "This power is really a part" in this game ", instead of being two groups to lobby the government for it to receive garbage from the street, two groups Hun to say that we want to sing, Hovwa Win uncle. "
Pianist Vladimir Kiromilian, who participated in the ceremony, said his participation was intended to convey a message rejecting censorship of works of art.
"We have to continue to make music without pressure and everything that happens today must stop us if we lose something small, we stop," he told Reuters.
Lebanese and international human rights organizations called on the Lebanese justice system to act quickly against those who helped cancel the concert (Project Laila).
The group has been produced throughout Lebanon in recent years, particularly in the ancient city of Byblos. However, the August 9 concert projects at the Byblos International Film Festival in Byblos were the subject of a hostile campaign on social networks to stop the show by force.
The Lebanese troupe, whose member is gay, performs in major cities around the world, said to be the target of a smear campaign in Lebanon aimed at undermining freedom of expression.
Over the past decade, Project Laila's songs have sparked controversy in the region with words about persecution, the working clbad, bigotry, homophobia and gender equality.
Jean Kbadir, one of the organizers of the ceremony, felt that what had happened with the project (Laila) was an insult to many, adding, "A campaign of deception and hatred against the project Laila's and the state's provided them with sufficient protection for holding the ceremony. Our concert is the pinnacle of spontaneity, become easily, people have volunteered, it is a solidarity party that resists by culture and art to any force that wants to silence us.
(Reuters)
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