The Baalbek International Festivals challenged Lebanon's unprecedented economic and social collapse with a concert held on Friday night, featuring performances by young Lebanese musicians filmed at various archaeological sites in eastern Lebanon. The initiative, titled "Lebanon's Sun Will Never Set," showcased an 80-minute film containing ten concerts, each lasting about eight minutes, all shot last month at different Roman-era temples scattered across the Beqaa Valley, "most of which are unknown to the public," according to the organizers, allowing viewers to discover them.
A limited number of invitees attended the concert at the famous Roman castle in "the City of the Sun" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most Lebanese TV stations broadcast the event along with Arab channels and the festival’s social media accounts. The artists selected by the festival committee for this concert presented a variety of musical styles, blending classical and folk with rock, pop, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, and Eastern music. Notable performers included Ziad Sahab, Janna Samaan, Pierre Geagea, and the Makram Abou Hassan Quintet, along with several youth musical bands.
Organizers emphasized in a statement that "the Baalbek Festivals bring hope today more than ever," amidst Lebanon's financial collapse, which the World Bank has indicated may be among the three worst crises in the world since 1850. Festival President Nayla Doufrij told AFP that the event organizers aimed to "provide a moment of joy and dreams through this film and to show the other side of Lebanon, transforming pain into hope." Doufrij added, "We wanted to provide young artists, who continue to produce and create amidst the economic and health crises, a platform to express themselves, showcase their art, and gain opportunities in Lebanon and abroad."
Hope for Disheartened People
Nine well-known television directors directed the ten films, including Emil Salibati, who told AFP that he seeks through his participation to give hope "to the people disheartened by the current situation in Lebanon, who are experiencing humiliation," amid a series of crises affecting various aspects of residents' lives, including shortages of electricity, fuel, and medicines.
The songs presented during the evening reflected the challenges Lebanon faces, as exemplified by the closing song performed by young Lebanese artist Zaf titled "Leish Baddi Abka" (Why Should I Stay?), in a country experiencing a brain drain affecting all production sectors amid a total economic collapse that has left more than half of Lebanese people living below the poverty line.
The event comes less than a month before the first anniversary of the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, which killed more than two hundred people, injured thousands, and caused a deep shock across the country, the effects of which are still resonating. Normally, Lebanon hosts numerous concerts and music festivals across the country during the summer, but these artistic events have been almost entirely absent for the second consecutive year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated the consequences of the economic collapse.
The Baalbek International Festivals previously held a lone concert in the summer of 2020 without an audience titled "Voice of Resilience," performed by the Lebanese National Philharmonic Orchestra at the archaeological site. Since its inception in 1956, the Roman monument has hosted legendary artists from the Arab world and beyond, including Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Charles Aznavour, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sting.
