From the band’s last concert, September 4, 2019
The reality of independent musical groups in Lebanon today does not seem refreshing, as the restrictions that have been imposed on many of their members due to their opinions Political and social, especially with the protest movement in 2019 and its followingmath, reflected frustration and interruption following three years, and sometimes the dissolution of the group or group from its foundation, as happened with Mashrou’ Leila recently.
Of course, a lot is said in detail regarding the reasons, and regarding the ability of art scene On the export of new voices and formations, as much as there is a case of counting and evaluation as well, and the latter is not random, of course. However, what can be observed between these differences is the language that tends to realism And frankness in addressing its issues, and this is what made the official cultural institutions fly from them, and push to the fore with other models that adorn reality.
In 2013, the “The Great Late” band was founded, and during its nearly nine-year career, it managed to set out from Beirut to Arab and foreign capitals, but the owners of “La Bombe” (the title of the first album that the band signed in 2017) stopped their performances by 2020, and their performances stopped by 2020. The Corona pandemic is not the only reason, as the economic situation has overstretched the group between different countries. Before that, the oud player, and one of the founders of the band, Imad Hashisho, had passed away in a traffic accident in 2018, so that all of the above combined to limit the activities.
After an absence of three years, the band returns to the stage of “Metro Al-Madina” in Beirut, through two concerts that take place at nine in the evening on the next Tuesday and Thursday, under the title “Unfortunate, painful, and flawed”, in a satirical play on the demarcations of the moral language imposed by the authority, once morest everyone Whoever thinks of criticizing her, even through art.
The band is scheduled to present 15 songs that are predominantly political and social, while maintaining the sarcastic framework that it adheres to. It is worth noting that these songs have never been presented before, but the bulk of them have been written in the past four years.
“The Great Late” includes a group of musicians and singers: Khaled Sobeih (piano and composition), Naim Al-Asmar and Sandy Chamoun (vocals), Abdel Kobeisy (Buzuk), Farah Kaddour (Buzuk Arida), Ali Al-Hout and Ahmed Al-Khatib (percussion), and Samah Abu Al-Muna (percussion). Accordion and vocals) and Makram Abolhassan (Contrabass).
