2023-07-09 06:16:13
Jumblatt said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that this session confirms “Lebanon’s cultural and artistic role, and its civilized message,” stressing the need for the continuation of the festival, which “carries today a message of hope as in its beginning.”
She noted that “the program is distinguished by its diversity, and the works that combine eastern and western music, including classical works, as well as flamenco, jazz and pop, and a licensed Broadway musical presented in Arabic written, designed, directed and acted by creative Lebanese youth.”
She pointed out that the festivals release “this season the young Lebanese and Arab talents who deserve to appear on the stage of the Beiteddine theater, with all the great historical and moral symbolism it represents.”
The program will open on July 20 with a concert by the Egyptian-French singer Farah El Dibani, accompanied by an orchestra led by Maestro Lebanon Baalbaki.
The audience enters the atmosphere of flamenco with the Spanish band Chiquilo, while two dates were set aside for the Lebanese musician Guy Manoukian with his band.
Jazz has a space with well-known Lebanese musicians in this field, and singer and songwriter Maysa Karraa gives a concert that mixes pop, rock and Arabic music.
For three nights, performances of the musical Chicago will be held in the Arabic language, with which the festival will conclude.
– From 5000 to 1200-
And while Noura Jumblatt, the wife of Walid Jumblatt, one of the most prominent Lebanese political leaders, acknowledged that it is “difficult to answer in the current situation” to a question regarding the festival’s ability to continue in light of the “difficult conditions” on the economic and social levels, she explained that it adapts to it through “Reducing the number of concerts” and “moving them from the field that accommodates five thousand people,” where they were usually held in the open air, “to the inner courtyard that can accommodate 1,200 people,” in order to “limit logistical and technical expenses.”
She justified these measures by the existence of “economic difficulties for all Lebanese, which may affect attendance,” stressing that ticket prices are designed “in a way that allows a large number of audiences to attend concerts, while maintaining the high level of the works presented.”
Since the beginning of the festival in 1985, the Beiteddine Theater has hosted “the world’s great artists”, such as the famous Spanish opera singers Placido Domingo, the Austrian Russian Anna Netrebko, the late American Jessie Norman, in addition to the British star Elton John and the late French singer Charles Aznavour. Iraqi artist Kazem El Saher and others.
Jumblatt recalled, at the forefront of these important “artistic stations” in the history of the festival, “Mrs. Fayrouz and her successive concerts for four years, which extended from the palace courtyard to all roofs and squares” in the ancient town of Beiteddine, located to the south of the capital, Beirut, in the Chouf district, which It was historically the capital of the Emirate of Mount Lebanon.
The Beiteddine Festival was also the first to present performances of “World Music and Sufi music,” according to Jumblatt, who highlighted the importance of holding musical plays in the open air, including “Notre Dame de Paris” (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) and “West Side Story” and “Kats” posed “a great challenge because it requires high equipment and technology.”
The festival, whose first sessions were held in the midst of the Lebanese war (1975-1990), achieved “many successes and records over the years,” according to Jumblatt, as the number of concerts organized by it exceeded five hundred, “in which it hosted more than 6,600 artists, musicians and creators, paving the way for In front of the participation of more than 700,000 spectators in the courtyards of the ancient historical palace, which was built by Prince Bashir Al-Shihabi in the nineteenth century.
The importance of the festival, according to its organization, is not limited to the fact that it contributes “significantly to showing the cultural and civilized face of Lebanon,” but also lies in the fact that it leads to “a social, economic and tourism dynamism, and supports convergence and openness,” and activates “the tourism and economic movement in the Chouf and Lebanon as a whole, in particular.” in the summer season.”
This is shown, according to Jumblatt, “through the spread of hotels, guest houses and restaurants throughout the region.” The festival also attracts “a large number of visitors, especially to the picturesque archaeological and natural sites.”
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