"Project Lili" challenges prevention and songs in the skies of Beirut World Divers DW

The cafes of Beirut and some of its streets were moved Friday night (August 9) with the songs of the project "Leila Project" at a time when the group was to perform at the Lebanese Byblos International Festival 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. Byblos festivals canceled the band's concert "to prevent bloodshed," the statement said. Protesters protested against the group of blasphemies..

In front of an audience of more than 3,000 people, the organizers chanted "The repression is not a project". A letter from members of the Leila project group was read to the public as this group was outside Lebanon. In its letter, the group expressed its refusal to turn Lebanese society into a society of "obscurantism".".

"Fight for the future and freedom"

"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 the letter, read by activist Jumana Talhouk. "Tonight, it's no longer Laila's project, at least the simplest freedoms are allowed, a future where censorship and self-censorship do not keep us from expressing ourselves, our heart (floating ) 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 previously objected, on the grounds that it offended the religious values, was presented on stage..

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 Farahat 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.".

Ziad Sahab, musician and oud player, said that it was a natural place for any musician sensitive to the danger of the domination of religious institutions in works of art. art..

REUTERS / Reuters