Music festivals back on track in Lebanon

Will to live is stronger than death, singer says

Beiteddin, LEBANON (Reuters)

Lebanon's summer festivals are back after two years of cancellations forced by a war with Israel in 2006 and battles with Islamist militants last year.

"You have two kinds of people, those who live by their culture and those who live by arms," said Jean-Marie Megalbani, while attending a jazz concert at a mountain palace courtyard in Beiteddin.

"We hope that the cultural aspect will prevail, that democracy and human rights will prevail," the 63-year-old surgeon added.

Grappling with instability is nothing new to organizers, audiences and performers at cultural events in Lebanon.

The festival at Beiteddin, in the Shouf hills southeast of Beirut, began in 1985 at the height of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war -- years when the glories of Baalbek's venerable festival were a distant memory and its brooding Roman ruins lay silent.

For Majida al-Roumi, a Lebanese singer renowned across the Arab world, the revival of Beiteddin, where she will perform on August 9, and the other festivals proves Lebanon's resilience.

"The Lebanese people have a fighter's will. They don't surrender to death," she told Reuters in the lush garden of her family's home at Kfarshima, overlooking Beirut airport.

"The will to live is stronger than death, happiness is stronger than sadness, and peace is stronger than war."

Cultural mission

Fairuz at the close of the 2003 festival

Nevertheless, organizers still faced tough decisions before going ahead with the 2008 festivals, all planned while Lebanon was gripped by a paralyzing political crisis which degenerated briefly into street fighting that killed 80 people in May.

Acknowledging that political conditions were very difficult, spokeswoman Asma Freiha said the Baalbek festival had a cultural mission to the Middle East and helped lure tourists to Lebanon.

"It's like a challenge that beyond all odds we can do something cultural, just to be there against the war and the hatred and all these problems," she said.

Baalbek festival was founded in 1956 and in its pre-civil war heyday drew performers like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Umm Kalthoum, Herbert von Karajan, Jean Cocteau and Fairuz.

Lineup

This year's line-up is less stellar, but just as eclectic a mix -- from Algerian singer Wardeh to Mexican diva Astrid Hadad, classical soprano Hamik Papian and Brazilian jazz singer Tania Maria, as well as Lebanese-born British pop star Mika.

Mika, brought to Lebanon in partnership with the Beiteddin festival, will perform in downtown Beirut on July 27 with a target audience of 15,000 to help the budgets of both festivals.

Organizers are keeping their fingers crossed that nothing will happen to disrupt their programs this year.

Wafa Saab, spokeswoman for Beiteddin, recalled the misery of 2006 when war between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel broke out on July 12, two days before the first scheduled performance.

"Everything was ready, we were just waiting for the artists to come," she said. "Then we had to cancel everything."

But Lebanon's troubles don't spoil the mood of festival-goers in Beiteddin's elegant arched courtyards.

"The atmosphere is beautiful and the natural acoustics are very nice," said housewife Tamara Zeidan. "We try to ignore the political upheavals and live our lives as much as we can."