Byblos, Mashrou ’Leila confirmed. But they will apologize to the Christians
After days of tension and online verbal wars, the band seems to have reached an agreement with the festival leaders. The artistic director speaks of a compromise reached following a meeting with the local bishop. A story that goes "to the heart" of Lebanon and to its "message as a nation".
Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - After days of tensions and heated online debate between fans and critics, the controversial participation of Mashrou 'Leila at the Byblos International Festival has been confirmed, after apologies from the band members to Lebanese Christians for two songs deemed "offensive." This was confirmed by the organizers of the event, as reported by the director of the music festival Naji Baz who spoke of compromise following a "meeting" with the Maronite archbishop of the city, Msgr. Michel Aoun.
The Lebanese indie band, whose singer Hamed Sinno is declared gay and whose lyrics (in Arabic) touch on social issues deemed taboo in the country and in the region, has sparked a wave of fierce protests in the Middle East. The group has performed several times in Lebanon since its formation in 2008, when the members were still students of the American University of Beirut.
In the past, their presence had raised controversy in Egypt and the Jordanian authorities had canceled their performances at the last minute.
In recent days the Lebanese clergy had asked for the cancellation of the performance in the context of the summer music festival in Byblos, speaking of texts that were offensive towards Christians. On social media, a group that called itself "Soldiers of God" started a protest campaign against the concert threatening street demonstrations to prevent it from taking place.
Naji Baz announced "an agreement" that confirms the concert program of August 9th "but a press conference is scheduled for the next few days". The band, he continues, should "apologize to all those who may have felt offended" by their songs, judged "disparaging towards the sacred symbols of Christianity".
The two songs at the center of the controversy, entitled "Idols" and "Djin", will not be played and the group has removed the posts deemed offensive on Facebook at the request of the national security agency.
However, the agreement reached was not enough to definitively close the controversy. "This is ridiculous," said the Lebanese-American writer Rabih Alameddine, according to whom "the internal world seems to have regressed to a level of illiberalism". Editorial columnist Diana Skaini, in the columns of the newspaper An-Nahar, emphasizes that the debate raised by the story "goes to the heart" of Lebanon and its "message as a nation".
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