Jazz grows big in Lebanon

The al-Madina Theatre was the venue for a Lebanese jazz festival called "Jazz is Alive".

The event was organized by the General Consulting and Entertainment group and La CD Theque. The festival echoes the developing jazz scene in Lebanon and is a breakaway from the limited circles of selected audiences.

Jazz in Lebanon, particularly after the war, was confined to the premises of pubs and restaurants where the music would mix with the jumble of diners. Jazz music in Lebanon was preserved by a few dedicated artists such as Abboud Saadi, Fouad Afra and Walid Tawil.

The return of the international festivals such as Beit Mery's al-Bustan Festival, the Baalbeck International Festivals, and the Beiteddine Festivals introduced famous jazz artists and music to a broader audience.

The festivals featured artists like Herbie Hancock and the late Nina Simone. At the local level, the development of the jazz scene was evident through the diversification of styles and as new cafŽs and pubs began featuring jazz. One can now listen to different colorings of jazz including fusion, flamenco, funk, and Latin. Apart from the legendary Blue Note CafŽ in Makhoul street, new places such as Fig Leaf, The Piano, The Jazz Club and Quadrangle to name but a few started hosting regular jazz shows.

Radio stations such as Light FM and Radio Liban have been airing jazz hours regularly.

At the four-day festival of al-Madina Theatre, participating bands could be classified into two categories. On one hand, there were old experienced bands figuring well-known names in the Lebanese jazz arena such as Arthur Satyan, Hratch Kassis, Fouad Afra, Jack Gregg and Hani Siblini.

Some of these artists have been playing for more than 20 years, even during the civil war. These veteran bands have shown skill in playing standard tunes and were able to stun audiences with their own compositions.

The second category of bands was made up of teenagers and youth in their early twenties. During the festival one of the new bands called Mosaique, which plays Flamenco-Jazz, delivered an amazing performance. The band showed genuine talent particularly in playing the tunes they have personally composed. Mosaique is composed of five young artists namely Albert Triss, Jean Madani, Khaled Yassine, Wissam Keyrouz and Rony Afif.

All in all, eight bands took part in the festival which included most Lebanese jazz bands in addition to an oriental music Duo of Khaled Yassine and Fahd Riashi. The performances and the new music pieces looked promising.

One drawback was that different bands would usually have the same musicians playing on them with the addition of a player or two, thus limiting the growth potential of different bands.

Another drawback was the unnatural conduct of the solos among musicians. Bands would actually 'assign' solos rather than allow a musical high.

Surprisingly, the audience which attended the festival was predominantly young. It is also worth mentioning that by the last day of the festival, the audience included familiar faces which were present in the first days, which shows that jazz fans were serious about their jazzy taste and that this type of music has loyal admirers in the country.

Jazz seems to be on the rise in Lebanon and the dedication of the few artists who play this type of music is paying off. The involvement of the youth guarantees jazz's sustainability and its potential expansion in the coming years.

Perhaps the only aspect that is currently missing is a stronger female role in the bands for in Lebanon they are mostly made up of males.