Snaps

In a text that fleshes out past events from Rami Sabbagh’s life in Beirut, the filmmaker discusses the often perilous entanglement of politics, music, and sound.

Singer and composer Sandy Chamoun draws from an array of musical genres from the region and beyond in this spellbinding mixtape where she assembles tracks that give voice to feelings of pain, loss, and rage.

Ten music videos that can give you a sense of the breadth of musical genres coming from Beirut, Lebanon and the diaspora today. The selection focuses on productions made from 2020 to 2022, all of which explore personal or political matters.

Lebanese artist Farah Awada was recording and filming in Beirut during its most turbulent events and most silent times. Her short video synthesizes these moments in a montage that avoids linear narration.

Filmmaker Nour Ouayda dwells on the details of the city of Beirut, Lebanon that she encounters on her walk toward the sea. Instead of looking upwards, her camera turns to the fast pace of her walking feet until she arrives at her destination.

Producer, DJ, radio host, and label owner Ziad Nawfal presents a moving mixtape which bids farewell to his native city of Beirut. True to his mission of promoting music from Lebanon, Nawfal includes some of his favorite local musicians, interspersed with field recordings.

In this sound piece, Ziad Moukarzel uses the recordings taken on a walk through Beirut, Lebanon, as a point of departure for this composition, which seamlessly blends exterior and interior sounds during one the most acute fuel crises the country has faced.

Invoking the struggle of women composers and producers in the city of Beirut, Lebanon, producer, DJ, and performer Lilian Chlela produces a mix that reflects the breadth and richness of their music whilst highlighting the challenges they must overcome.