Ak09 by Audio Kultur

AUDIO KULTUR ISSUE 09 DEC 2014 FREE

02 WORD FOR THE HERD

Someone recently told me that, “we’re the kind of people who sit on the exit rows of planes for a reason”. Besides the state it left me in due to my reduced mental capacity at the time of its utterance, this phrase has stuck with me up until now much like mulled wine does when splashed onto a pristine white wall. Now this might have to do with the context behind the statement, but because this is an extremely well respected lexicon of all things worth knowing about and not my fucking Livejournal, I’m going to blame it on the fact that it is December. I hate December. It’s fucking cold, people sing stupid songs and it involves a lot of tinsel. To counteract this onslaught of pseudo jollity, I do what I’ve learned over the years has worked best when faced with the many general unpleasantries that life throws my way: I drink my way through it. However, when my foolproof strategy is combined with the fact that no one I associate with either works in December or cares enough about the job they currently have to actually give a shit about showing up hanging for dear life, the consequences can be dire. To me, December is essentially a month full of Sundays. Now to you that might mean lavish champagne brunches, followed by a onesie and a shitty film on the sofa, but to me they represent what I dread most in life: the Sunday hangover. The kind of divine punishment that not even the hottest shower or heaviest dose of diazepam can cure. The kind that makes you think about every wrong turn you’ve ever taken and all the wrong turns you will inevitably take in the not so distant future. You make promises to yourself in a cheap attempt to escape your mental smackdown. Regardless [of] whether you’ve been here a million times or this is your first stint in limbo, we all tell ourselves the same things. It starts with “never again” and always ends in a sacred covenant between you and your future self. We make lavish plans of how responsible we are going to be from here on out. We plan how we’re going to spend the early weekend mornings that are usually shaded by black sunglasses and dulled by the kind of things that tend to dull you once they’ve run their course. Next Sunday is going to be different. Next Sunday I’m going to grow the fuck up...

PUBLISHER

AK Publishing SAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Tres Colacion

GUEST EDITOR

Olivia Alabaster

CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Livia Caruso

ART DIRECTOR Ali EL Sayed

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Emne Mroue

WRITERS

Joseph Ataman Jennifer Barhoum Natalie Shooter

PHOTOGRAPHY

Valentina Lola Vera

ILLUSTRATOR

Noura Andréa Nassar

COMIC

Tracy Lio Chahwan

CONTACT

Got something to say? Write us at Junkmail@audiokultur.me Life is a pitch, but at least we want to pay you for it. Send your pitches to Editor@audiokultur.com

At the time of writing, however, it’s still the lovely month of November and maybe, just maybe, this year will be different. Maybe this is the year that we all (see now I’ve made this about you too) get our shit together. But regardless, everyone knows the exit seats have more leg room anyway.

Want a fresh shipment of Audio Kultur every month to your fine establishment? TheGuy@AudioKultur.com

So much for the entire “not my fucking Livejournal” thing. Enjoy the proper stories we’ve got this month and see you all next year.

audiokultur.com facebook.com/audiokultur issuu.com/audiokultur

-Tres

All advertising inquiries go to SellOut@AudioKultur.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS 03

04. FEATURED ARTIST: CHYNO

06. FLASHBACKS

& REVELATIONS

14. FEATURE:

KIDS WITH GUM

20. FEATURED ARTIST:

18. TUNEAGE

POLY

28. THE METROPOLIS(T)

24. FEATURE:

BORN FREE

30. FEATURE: 36. DAS KOMIC

NOT JUST ANOTHER WEDDING MASSIVE

04 FEATURED ARTIST

ODD MAN OUT

Using your difference as a strength on Beirutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MC scene

FEATURED ARTIST 05

hether performing as a solo artist or with the hip-hop supergroup, FareeQ el Atrash, CHYNO has made a name for himself in the Lebanese scene over the last few years. We talk about why video hasn’t killed the radio star, his top secret potential collaborations and his highly-anticipated debut album.

I still represent FareeQ el Atrash when I do my solo work, but I like the fact that I have full control. It's obviously much more work, but this is something I feel I should do right now. I can't tell you which I like more until I’ve dropped my album and toured as a solo artist. For now, nothing beats a FareeQ live show. For real.

AK: Your radio show Bar Fight seems to be doing pretty well. Can you tell us a bit about the concept behind it and how it’s come about? What can we expect from it in the future?

AK: You’ve got a bit of mixed background. Manila

born, Damascus raised and Beirut livin’. How do the places that you’ve lived in effect the music you make? Manila taught me to keep it grimey and put the work in. Damascus taught me to try to stay humble and spit the truth. Beirut is where I found my independence, so it showed me how to be versatile. I'm always the odd one out in any of these cities, so I've learned how to use being different as a strength. I feel that it all translates in my music.

AK: The BBC was in town recently and featured you

in a segment for a NewsBeat story. The story appeared to be a bit misleading in regard to your origins and a few other details. Can you clear this up for us? Why do you think the BBC twisted the facts? I wasn't born in Damascus and it wasn't my home in 2011 - I was in Barcelona then. I did live there for a while though. The front yard of my grandmother's building did get hit by a mortar shell and my grandmother (bless her soul) passed away not too long ago. But those were two separate situations that they edited together. I guess they wanted a sob story. Apart from that, it was actually a good interview. I still got to drop a verse about my thoughts on Western intervention and speak about my music.

AK: You’ve found success both with a group, FareeQ el Atrash, and more recently on your own. How do the two experiences compare? Which one do your prefer?

Edd Abbas producing it, so do Carl Ferneine from Loopstache, Tarek Khuluki from Tanjaret Daghet, and more awesome ones I'd like to keep on the low. We're aiming for February 2015.

AK: Word on the street is that you’ve been

spending some studio time with pop singer POLY. “Crossover” is a bit of a buzz word in music right now. What’s your feeling on the state of pop music and when “underground” artists switch it up to get that breakthrough single?

Maaaan. Bar Fight is retarded-awesome. It's a hip hopbased opinion show with my co-host Marwan Alameh (#KeeFuckMikey). We have different segments written by 107 writers available at our disposal. Our private investigator G.O.Ogle. A million dollar budget to give out prizes such as crack babies to winners of our show "the Verdict" where we judge a rapper's live performance. Next year we plan to scale down from 1,000 sponsors to one or two sponsors, and just turn this cash cow to a humble video podcast. And oh yeah, we play music. Hip hop.

What did I say about keeping it on the low? Yeah, Poly is talented, so I'm glad we've been exchanging ideas every now and then. I don't know how I feel about "crossover" and "pop" music. As long as one doesn't compromise too much or become formulaic, I can appreciate their hustle. Don't try to reinvent the latest hit single. Forward thinking is important.

AK: For your singles “OPP” and A well written song

There's a general consensus amongst the seasoned rappers and producers in Beirut about this 19-year-old Palestinian rapper from Yarmouk, Damascus, named Fthi (pronounced Fat-Hee ‫) فتحي‬. He has this grimy Palestinian swag. The kid can spit. In English, B-O-X I'd definitely co-sign. He has a video from Bar Fight spitting a freestyle verse that was very impressive. Some hot flows and cold bars in there.

makes it easier to develop a concept for the video., more recently, “Fight or Flight” you’ve released some pretty provocative video clips. Do you think it’s important for artists to push the envelope in terms of mixed media? What’s your process for developing the concept behind a clip? It's important, but I always prioritize the music. Both of my videos had very specific subject matters that we couldn't hide from. Both were directed by Pedros "the Butcher" Temizian. It was a collaboration all the way through.

AK: What’s the story about the upcoming album.

It’s been a long time coming, tell us a bit about what to expect. Any collabs? It's become such a musically diverse album. Two and a half years in the making. It's a bit out there, so I'm hoping it translates. FareeQ's got a feature with

AK: You’ve put in your time and have a pretty well respected opinion, can you tip us off on a youngster that you think is going on to do big things?

AK: If you could have any MC feature on one of your tracks who would it be and why?

Andre 3000. He kills it on featurings every single time. He always strives to push boundaries. He's fresh, his ideas are out there and I'm a huge fan.

06 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS

FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS A month of the hottest parties for your viewing pleasure

AUDIO KULTUR &JIM BEAM PRESENT:

WANTON BISHOPS

Bus Station Mar Mikhael - Beirut - Lebanon Dec.28.2014 Doors open at 7pm

08 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS

BPHOTOS018BY CARL HALAL

FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 09

BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR PHOTOS BY ZEINA SHAHIN

10 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS

CPHOTOSU NXT SAT BY CARL HALAL

FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS 11

RUBIK MAYA KHODR

12 FLASHBACKS & REVELATIONS

ÜBERHAUS PHOTOS BY ADHAM TEMSAH

14 FEATURE

KIDS WITH GUM

Life on the streets, 1,000LL at a time By: Joseph Attaman *Some names have been changed to protect the identity of the children

FEATURE 15

I'm Double A, I'm more famous than the Lebanese flag." Standing outside Mar Mikhael's most well known bar, some might say this is the kind of introduction you could expect from a Radio Beirut regular. With his toothy grin and flat cap peaked to one side, Double A is a common sight on Mar Mikhael's main street. With more flair than most visiting DJs and never far from breaking into freestyle rap - his off-the-cuff verse is second to none - he considers himself quite the Beirut celebrity.

But Double A is a street child, a young teenager selling roses to the drinkers crowding the pavement, charming them with his confident swagger and easy smile. While he's peddled flowers across most of Beirut, he likes it best here - he's part of the furniture. But Double A's not alone in working the sidewalk, and unfortunately for the kids darting between the clusters of hipsters and high heels, life isn't all fist pumps and high fives. Abed is eleven but his face looks much older. He flinches as a red 4x4 drives by, "Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the police", he whispers, constantly twitching to glance nervously up and down the street. "How do you know?" we ask him, "The way they look." Abed was just seven when his mother packed him a bag and put him on the bus from Aleppo to live with his uncle in Jounieh. He doesn't like to talk about home, there's only one reason why he left: 'el harb', the war. One of his brothers fights for Assad, the other against him. Abed doesn't smile. While the other street boys tease and play fight with each other, Abed just watches silently. His blank face and dull eyes only brighten once.

As we talk to him about life away from the street we mention computer games. At the first mention of Need for Speed his eyes light up and a smile flashes across his face, just for a moment. As quickly as it came, the smirk vanishes. While Double A was happy to chat, Abed wants to get going, the night is getting on, he needs to sell some more flowers. Yousef is from Aleppo too. At 15, the eldest of the bunch, he referees the squabbles between his brothers selling gum alongside him, but he's also there to work. Crouched in an alleyway near Chaplin's, away from the prying eyes and ears of the main street, Yousef begins to tell us his story. Back in Syria, considered old enough to take up a rifle and fight in the war, his reluctance to join the rebels was met with accusations of being 'shabiha', loyal to the regime. "How could I fight? My father had an aneurism, my mother collects scrap metal all day, how could I let my brothers starve?" Soon after, he came to Lebanon. His cousin was not so lucky. After leaving his wife and young child in the relative safety of Beirut, he returned to Aleppo, where he used to work as a decorator to make enough money to send to his family in Turkey.

After several months he decided to leave for the Turkish border. After the regime, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Al-Nusra checkpoints he was stopped by ISIS. Although a Sunni Turkman, his Shiite surname, Ali, was enough to condemn him. It wasn't until weeks later that Yousef heard of his cousin's execution. On Facebook. A gruesome video showed him buried up to his neck and then beheaded in front of a crowd of locals. Liked and shared, going viral. Faced with that, any existence on the streets of Beirut was still a better alternative. But as tempting, as easy as it is to pity children like Abed, they aren't all pawns, exploited by gangs or abusive relations, wayward parents or opportunistic pimps. Yes, their situation is more tragic than we can imagine, but Abed and his street brothers deserve more than pity.

STREETS OF GOLD While the weight of numbers of children roaming Beirut's streets is living testament to how utterly the international community has failed the people of Syria, in a horrible twist of irony, the Beirut street has become their battleground back to normality.

16 FEATURE

Talking to these kids had originally been all about lifting the lid on the infrastructure of gangs rumoured to be the masterminds behind the street kids outside Radio, the shadowy gangs supposedly pushing children outside Abbey Road. In fact, their stories exposed only the awful reality of poverty, not the total breakdown of humanity that we like to believe shadows destitution. Abed works most nights in Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael. Like Yousef and his brothers, dropped off by their taxi driver uncle at 8pm, they work until 2am. On a good night they make more than seventy thousand Lebanese Lira. Every night Yousef 's brothers pay their uncle twenty thousand for transport, the fare from Jounieh. As much as he would drive them for free, the taxi boss won't let him. Of every thirty dollars that Yousef makes, twenty five goes to his family - they're saving up for flights to Turkey. Unsure of how best to buy their tickets, they opt to use a middleman - although he charges them far more than the going rate. Abed too works to provide for his family. Asked why he spends his nights on the street, he says simply, "my mother needs the money. Who else will send it?" Every month he wires a little cash back to Aleppo, but it gives him little pride. To 11 year old Abed it seems just a hard fact of life, an adult fact of life. The stories behind the nameless, faceless children of Beirut's pavements and junctions are often what makes

them that bit more human to us, but ultimately to the 11 year old selling flowers, these stories are often just as valuable as his small hands pawing the air. Gino and I spent hours talking to the small clique of boys manning the Mar Mikhael pavement. As much as we hoped that we had scratched beyond the surface of sob stories and rehearsed lines, we could never really know.

THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WAR But the boys don't enjoy a monopoly over the area. One old man, Mahmoud, his head crowned with strands of neatly combed hair, his shirt pressed and his fraying pullover freshly cleaned, also treads the same streets, a vase of gaudy blue flowers in hand. As we were talking to the boys, he approached. "They speak all lie" was all his broken English could muster, but later that night we saw him again. Every evening he sees the troupe of 'lost boysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; he doesn't trust a word they say. He had stories of women taking street boys on tours around the city, paying them for their time and sexual abuse, but he viewed the boys' parents as the real villains, happy to watch as their kids peddled the pavements. Plenty of resentment was left for the kids themselves. "They can earn twice as much as me. I struggle to make forty thousand at best. Syrians came and occupied our land before - now they come back to steal it all again."

MIRROR IMAGE Be it the fast cars prowling the streets, the skeletal towers remoulding the skyline or the soldiers idling behind the barbed wire - enacting their own theatre of security - in Beirut, image is king. Being seen matters. Chatting to street kids isn't how I usually spend my evenings but I never expected to be stopped talking to one by a customer of one of Mar Mikhael's many bars. He was perfectly friendly, asking where I was from and if we knew any of the same foreigners in Beirut. But he must have sensed I was keen to carry on talking to Double A, "you know you don't have to speak to them, sure be polite, but don't waste your time with them, they should be cleaned up". While they are just as much a part of today's Lebanon, it seems that plenty of Lebanese view Syrian street kids as an unfortunate blemish on the city's image, a poor reflection of their beloved Beirut. For the city's businesses, such attitudes are all the more acute. Hamra is another hub for street kids, but there the streets have struck back. Pressure from local traders has pushed the police into sporadic campaigns of arrests and imprisonment of any street children they find. Chatting to Mohamad Salam, a spokesperson for the Hamra Traders Association, he made their view clear. "We have many big trademarks here in Hamra. It affects their image when there are beggars. Because of this we are not able to create new investment in Hamra. As an investor, a business, you don't care about them - just take them out from in front of my shop".

FEATURE 17

For Hamra's business owners, frustrated at the lack of government effort to solve the issue, the only problem is "that we don't have enough room to put them all in jail." For traders, it's not personal, it's simply business. 15 year old Yousef has seen the other end of the law. After his last arrest, his fifth, he spent four months in a local adult holding cell under a motorway, crushed in with dozens of men, surviving on two meager meals and occasionally some food from his parents. When he got to court the judge released him immediately, as soon as he heard he was supporting his family. Days later he was back on the street. Mohamad Salam knows that arrests are futile, "It's a vicious circle, first of all we should provide shelter for them, alternatives. We have been criticized by NGOs for our brutal approach but you know, our aim is business".

A HELPING HAND But while some locals would prefer to ignore street children, NGOs have been working to make their plight more visible and better understood. Brady Black, a representative of Home of Hope, said that the organisation currently houses its maximum capacity of 70 street children, taking them off the street or away from abuse at home. However, funded by the Lebanese government makes them slaves to court decisions, forced to return children even if they know it is only further abuse or exploitation that awaits them. Sources in the police's intelligence department told us that crackdowns on street children were largely the responsibility of local officers and stations, pressured

as they are by local business and residents. At Home of Hope, it is not uncommon to receive up to 12 children from the police at any one time, surely evidence of roundups on the street. For Brady one thing stood out, "their parents don't come and pick them up, I can't understand it personally, but for them it's a rational decision, it's willful abandonment." While charities like Home of Hope do their best, in reality they are only a drop in the ocean of what's needed to bring some normalcy back to the lives of the children on Beirut's streets. Working by roads, in the gutter, these kids are easy to brand as delinquent, somehow lacking in morals. But amongst those I talked to, honour is everything. Last week Yousef found a new iPhone outside a bar. He kept it safe until finally the owner called. The owner didn't think to give him a reward. Had he thought about selling it? "No, of course not. That would be haram." Life might not be fair, but for the children of Beirut's streets, the phrase takes on a whole new meaning.

18 TUNEAGE

TUNEAGE YOUNG FATHERS

EMERSON TODD

SOON COME SOON NINJA TUNE

MAT PLAYFORD

4/5 Is there anyone fucking cooler than Young Fathers right now? The Edinburgh trio is not just one of the most exciting things happening in hip hop, but in music generally at the moment. Coldcut’s legendary Ninja Tune imprint have got another gem in their catalogues with the first post-Mercury win release from the Young Fathers. “Soon Come Soon” is said to have been the product of a recording session in a corporate, brown brick building in Los Angeles in a studio run by legendary underground hip hop producer Daddy Kev. It’s packed with everything that makes Young Fathers such a special group at the moment: rhymes more akin to poetry, nearly world beats and that choral signature. In the words of Ninja Tune, "Soon Come Soon" lives on its own, it's not part of an album: this is a singular single. DEAD is not dead and this is a reminder…” Yeah, that works for us.

4/5 Skimming through promos can sometimes be a bit of a meticulous process, especially when you have left writing the reviews til literally the day before printing (soz). However, it is in moments like these that you can really appreciate a stand out record, and that’s exactly what “ISON” is. While not particularly trendy or even timely, Playford has produced a straight up house cut that sucks you in from the get go. Complete with a fucking slamming piano arrangement, a classic 303 line and even a little rewind right when it gets moving, the Leeds boy hits all the right keys. “ISON” is an unadulterated journey back to the days when Acid wasn’t “throwback” and people knew how to fucking dance. It might not be innovative, but it certainly sounds like one hell of a good time. Two rave fingers up.

1ST DECEMBER

ISON BLACK ROCK

12TH DECEMBER

LOVE SOMEBODY (INC. BRODANSE, SASCHA DIVE

AND NATHAN BARATO REMIXES) DANSE CLUB 15TH DECEMBER 2.5/5 Australian producer Emerson Todd has taken on the duties of London based imprint Danse Club’s 17th release, featuring an original from Todd along with remixes from Sascha Dive, label bosses Brodanse and Nathan Barato. The original is a subtle house track with a pretty big bass line. For me it never really comes together and just ends up sounding a bit flat. It lacks the amount of energy normally associated with the label and certainly with their last release, Sek’s smashing “Everybody EP”. Well, that’s why they invented the remix right? The Brodanse brothers are up first – their track works the most out of what’s at hand and has a richer, tech-house groove. Sascha Dive, boss of Deep Vibe, got the skip half way through. So not too much to say there. Nathan Barato turns out an effort that is pretty different from the original and earns points for being well produced and danceable. Not the label’s finest, but a pair of half decent remixes.

TUNEAGE 19

HRRSN

SAME FREAKIN CRYING DAY (INCL MARLON HOFFSTADT LOVE EP REMIX) BPITCH CONTROL SILVIE LOTO

KLANGKULTUR SCHALLPLATTEN 19TH DECEMBER

21ST DECEMBER

3/5 HRRSN has recently dropped a series of releases on labels like Noir, Suol and Stil vor Talent. His debut for the small Cologne-based imprint Klangkultur Schallplatten comes in the form of his latest single “Same Freaking Day” and a Marlon Hoffstadt remix. The original instantly stands out due to its soul and r&b influences which are present throughout the mix. It all works very well, and HRRSN’s stripped back vocal harmonies create a deep, soothing impact. But it’s Marlon Hoffstadt that steals the show. His remix takes the pace up a notch and flips the focals from sultry to lively. This works perfectly with his punchy percussion and slamming pianos. He tops it all off with an infection bass line to create a raw house banger.

?/5 Since its formation back in 19naughty7, Ellen Allien’s Berlin-based BPitch Control has had some of electronic music's most forward-looking producers. From Modeselektor to Ben Klock and Paul Kalkbrenner, the bar at BP is pretty fucking high. Italian Silvie Loto, who dropped her first release on the album in 2013, is back to push that bar. The title track “Crying Love” is a beautifully blur between the arbitrary boundaries of house and techno. Featuring her own vocals over soft pads, the track is a deep and melodic ride. “Breeze” is set up in a similar way and really highlights Loto’s talent as a songwriter. “Woo” and “Flow” take a more kinetic approach – “Flow” is driven by clever drum programing and “Woo” makes use of some seriously deep resounding tones. Throughout the EP, Loto shows her ability as a multitalented producer with an eclectic ear. Play it loud.

COMMODO FEAT. JME

SHIFT DEEP MEDI MUSIK 28TH NOVEMBER

?.5/5 For the UK’s bass scene, Commodo represents the best of a next generation of producers that can return the genre to its former glory. Much like some of dubstep’s founding fathers, the young Northerner’s talent lies in his arrangements. There are no bass drops here and the track is free of the familiar formulas which seemingly ripped the genre apart. Shift has the sound of an instant classic. Upon a first listen it sounds like it came out of a smoked out Croydon bedroom in the summer of ‘05. Something from the Skream fault. But on closer inspection you feel the influence of Grime in the percussion and even the sort of polishedness that defines the crossover hits of 2013. The vocal cut features JME and the grime stalwart is on top form. Coming off the massive success of Skepta’s anthem “That’s Not Me”, JME has his own anthem and, much like the dichotomy between the two brothers, Jamie’s is certainly one for the underground.

20 FEATURED ARTIST

POLYPHONIC MATTER Putting that perfectionist touch on pop music Photos by: Rabee Younes

FEATURED ARTIST 21

AK: Wagwan, Miss Matta. Let’s start off with a bit of

the obvious. How did you get into the music industry? Who and what inspired you to do so? How long have you been at it?

or Lebanese singer Poly, making it in the music industry is about defying other people’s expectations of who she should be and what sort of records she should be creating. Working in a haphazard scene, she wants her performances to bring her audiences into a fantasy world. Ahead of her upcoming debut original release, the 21-year-old talks to AK about trying to inspire freedom in a jaded generation.

It’s never really been a choice, it’s just who I am. When I was 14 I decided to take control of my life and surround myself with an inspiring atmosphere, so I dropped out of school and moved to London to study music. I am very inspired by imagery, film and the people around me. We are obsessed with creating fantasies and writing stories.

AK: You’ve garnered quite a following on social media. What do you attribute that success too?

Well, I think nowadays - especially in the Middle East - my main type of audience refers to the internet to get their hits of entertainment and music. If you are smart enough to realise the potential of social media today, you will use it as a platform of direct communication. But I don’t think people take it seriously enough. For me, my social media platforms are another stage and my presence on them is another performance. I love working with technology, it’s a world filled with

opportunities to express. I am constantly collaborating with a digital studio called YELLOW, they did my website and we are working on making it even more interactive. We are also working on many digital projects that I’m very excited about but If I say more I’ll get into trouble...

AK: On the covers you’ve released you tend to

completely rework them. Sweater Weather - originally by The Neighborhood - has quite the beat on it. How did you go about producing the track? What’s your production set up/background? I’m flattered that you think so. I had actually been working on Sweater Weather for over six months on and off before deciding to release it and I probably produced more than four versions of the track until I got to the version I ended up putting out. It was produced by me and recorded in my bedroom. I like to take the songwriting out of the song and sometimes I’ll even change the lyrical references and chords, but I take what I think is the essence of it and rewrite the arrangements from scratch. So much of what I know how to do, from production

22 FEATURED ARTIST

to marketing to fashion, I’ve learned out of need. Like, OK, I can’t find someone to just do the executions so I have to learn to do it myself. Learn how to edit videos, learn how to play the piano, learn how to work a sound card and a home studio, and then just experiment. I owe a lot of myself to survival mode times. The intro of my Uruguay Street show, which was a remake of Kanye West’s ‘Hold My Liquor’, started as a demo I’d sent to my producer Rami Haj Younes, who then pushed it exactly to where I wanted it. So production has definitely helped me materialise my ideas, especially when I work with other people. I coproduce and co-direct all of my work.

AK: You’ve been on the scene for a while now, but

we’re yet to see any original work come out. Will we get to see something released in the near future? What’s the plan? I’m not sure what you mean by ‘been on the scene for a while’. All this ‘while’ I’ve been experimenting, learning, growing up, fucking up, filtering etc. until I found my vision this year. I’m not sure why people

expected an album from me when I was 17. Because I had made a few appearances here and there? Am I supposed to risk my artistry, vision and quality because a few people from the ‘scene’ think I should be doing things differently? No. It’s bigger than releasing an album to a dusty shelf, it’s bigger than releasing via SoundCloud. It’s about how every step can make a difference and inspire, it’s about representing myself to the fullest until every inch of the work stinks of me. I have been on a hardcore schedule for the past few months, obsessing over every aspect of my world, surrounding myself with people who inspire and push me, writing and recording. What I can say about my upcoming release is that it will revolutionise strategies and debuts. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. For now, if you are looking for my original material, come to the shows, they are FILLED.

AK: You’re an advocate of the LGBT community. Do you think more artists in the Middle East need to take a stance on issues, even if their music is not particularly “politically charged”?

I guess I do so indirectly, I think for me it’s just natural to want to fight for equality whether it’s against homophobia or sexism or anything like that. I feel that it’s part of my job as a young person to stand up for what I think is right, whether I am an artist or in the public eye or not. I wouldn’t say all my music is politically charged, but I am no sheep. I think everyone should do whatever they feel is right for them, but I definitely encourage a passionate approach towards a stance - you can’t ask for change and expect it to just happen, you have to be a part of it. The young generation in particular, I feel that we’ve inherited so much baggage and hatred, we need to be opinionated and push for the future.

AK: Do you think that pop music raised the bar in

terms of the sexualization of female artists? Do you think this hypersexualization has a knock down effect on up and coming artists like yourself? Why? You don’t find me sexy?

AK: Do you ever feel pressured to look or appear a certain way?

FEATURED ARTIST 23

The only thing I’m ever pressured to do is to meet my own expectations.

ruled by other people’s judgements and I hate it. I want to inspire freedom.

AK: Do you have any desire to be a role model or do

AK: What’s the most difficult thing about being an

I think that it’s not my choice to make really. That’s where the people decide, whether they want to cocreate with me or just observe.

I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter where you are, you have to be smart and work with what you have. But if I had to name one of the things that I find difficult to deal with, it would be the unprofessionalism due to a lack of industry. I focus so much on work ethic within my team - I think it’s so important, especially in the creative field.

you feel that that isn’t really your duty?

AK: What would you want to inspire young Lebanese women to do/feel?

After the shows I always try to have a meet and greet and talk to people and interact. This one girl brought me to tears when she said: “Thank you for saying the things I couldn’t say.” I would love for everyone, especially women because they are so oppressed by our society, to break out of the box that other people project on us. I would love for everyone to express themselves, and it’s so hard sometimes. I’ve found my way, a lot of people call it artistic license and tell me that it’s okay for me to be the way I am because I am an artist but I completely disagree, everyone should be able to do whatever the fuck they want. We are

independent musician in Lebanon?

AK: If you weren’t involved in music what would you be doing?

I’d still be creating fantasies for you, through film, fashion and performance art.

WEBITE:

polyofficial.com facebook.com/OfficialPoly youtube.com/PolyOfficial instagram.com/PolyOfficial twitter.com/FollowPoly followpoly.blogspot.com

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BORN FREE Fear and lusting on the streets of Beirut By: Jennifer Barhoum Edited by: Olivia Alabaster Illustrations by: Noura AndrĂŠa Nassar

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“

Hey pretty” “Where are you going?” “It’s a shame a girl like you is alone” “Can I give you a lift somewhere?” “You’re so hot” “Where’s your man?” “Can we get to know each other?” “I can’t take my eyes off you” “It’s better if you let me drop you off somewhere” “Waiting for someone?” “I think we should get to know each other”

What drives men to shout such things at women in the street? What are they hoping the result will be, and do they have any idea how it can make a woman feel about herself, her safety, how comfortable she is with her own sexuality? Is it evidence of a certain attitude towards women or is it simply meant as a harmless comment, a compliment even?

AM I FREE? As a Lebanese woman who has lived in this country all my life, I have always felt relatively lucky to be born here. Despite living in a Middle Eastern country, I have often felt that we have benefitted from some of the liberal attitudes of the West rather than the conservative traits of some of our Arab neighbors. In Lebanon I enjoy freedoms such as dressing in whatever manner I please, driving my own car and traveling without a guardian. But as I’ve grown older, I have come to see that such superficial freedoms do not necessarily equate to freedom on a larger scale. My perceptions of freedom have changed over time, and I realise I am not so sure

that I am that fortunate to be living in Lebanon after all. For when these low-level freedoms – such as wearing a miniskirt, say – are not coupled with genuine freedom, then do these “fake” freedoms really count for anything? Are we just being deceived into thinking we are “free”?

But should a woman have to protect herself from unwanted attention? When I spoke to young men and women in Lebanon, many shared the belief that it is necessary for women to protect themselves when they go out, due to this idea that “the streets of Beirut will never be safe”.

IS IT A WOMAN’S RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT HERSELF?

MAN AS PROTECTOR?

I once asked a friend of mine – a liberal Saudi woman – why she chose to be veiled, even from a young age. Her answer was simply “to protect myself.” She added that it was from her fear of men, and, explicitly, men’s inability to control themselves. “The men around me are weak and sometimes cannot control themselves, so I wear the veil for protection from wandering eyes.”

Nadim, 24, is dating a girl of 22, and believes she should only wear certain outfits if she has him around for “protection.”

At first I didn’t agree with her reasoning, but a few years down the line I began to realise she might have a point: she saw the veil as a form of protection from the street harassment that so many women experience, for unfortunately some men seem to equate the way a woman dresses with her openness for sex or her “easiness.”

“I would never let her go out in a mini skirt if I’m not with her. I want her to be free and do whatever she wants, but I know how men think, and how a simple act such as her going out in a mini skirt or a tank top could spiral into something bad.” Her “freedom” is thus still being defined by a man. Chris, 27, questions another kind of alleged protection, that of the security authorities. “I was once walking with a girl in Mar Mikhael, and it was just me and her. At one point there was a policeman

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on the street who looked at my girl and shouted ‘shou ya barbie, tlo3ti men el 3albeh.’” (hey barbie, I see you left your box) “This is the guy who is supposed to protect us or protect my girl when I’m not around?! I’m right there in front of him and he doesn’t even acknowledge or respect me. So imagine what he would do if I wasn’t with her.” ‘It’s that awful feeling that stays with you’

But are dirty jokes off limits? Is a whistle on the street harmful? Since when is staring a crime? Roy, a rather macho 30 year old defends his behaviour thus: “When I look at a woman walking down the street and stare at her or smile at her, or even when we’re in a club and I approach her, I expect her to take it as a compliment. Even if she has a boyfriend! It’s harmless and I doubt that anyone would mind getting attention and turning guys’ heads. I think women are ‘overrated’, it’s the guys who have to suffer judgments based on their sexuality in this country.”

Virtually all women in Lebanon have experienced such degrading treatment: of the 30 women I spoke to, 28 had faced sexual harassment in one form or another.

SO HOW CAN WE FIX A PROBLEM THAT WE CAN’T EVEN DEFINE?

This shouldn’t be hard to believe. Lebanon was recently ranked eighth worst in the world for gender equality in a study undertaken by the World Economic Forum, and second worst in terms of women’s participation in politics. All of these factors are intertwined, and street harassment is a continuation of a viewpoint which sees women as mere objects.

If a man is unable to express his sexual desires in a healthy, mature and unthreatening way, it means we really have to look at how sex is discussed. As long as it carries with it a shadow of shame, then people whether men or women - will be indirectly encouraged to repress their quite natural sexual needs.

Women in Beirut are not free in the sense - among other things - that some believe they should not walk at night on their own, or wear certain clothes, in order to minimize the threat of sexual harassment or assault.

Be it from feeling ashamed for feeling curious at a young age and having questions but lacking the “courage” needed to ask a family member, or from driving one hour to the pharmacy farthest from your house to purchase contraception, or even being able to cohabit with your partner before being married.

One young woman, Nay, who is 24, successfully persuaded her parents to move from the Hamra district, as she felt too vulnerable there. A somewhat conservative dresser, Nay recounts a story in which a man followed her while masturbating. “At first he asked me a question so I helped him out, but then he became too insistent and I began to feel that something was wrong. I told him I had to go and he started following me, so I eventually ran into my cousin’s house and he left. But the messed up thing is he had his hand in his pocket the whole time and I then realized that he was masturbating while talking to me.” Such experiences can stay with the victim long after the incident itself, and have a potentially lasting impact, as Hala, 23, explains: “I had a similar experience and it’s that awful feeling that stays with you; it creeps up under your skin and you feel disgusted and angry. Like you are just an object he is using for his repulsive and sickening pleasure. He looks like he’s a starved animal coming to devour his prey. It’s degrading and objectifying at its worst.”

WHAT COUNTS AS SEXUAL HARASSMENT? It’s clearly a subjective issue. While men might view their catcalls as harmless, or even as compliments, women are more likely to view them as threatening, and unlikely as charming.

For what is often depicted in the international media as the party capital of the Middle East, why do young rich Beirutis - among the most educated in the country - feel the need to send their drivers out to buy them condoms? And why, which has happened to not just a few of my friends, do the drivers instead respond to this with the suggestion they take them to a prostitute to lose their virginity instead? Rabih, 25, tells me that, “Looking back on it now, I think it’s stupid. But we were boys at the time, and once my driver told me about it -- strip clubs he could take us to amongst other things -- all the boys wanted in. We got excited, and carried away, we were young and stupid. I would tell you now that I would take it back, but at the time, we were so nervous about ‘our first time’ that we wanted to try it with anyone.” Where we need open discussions and honesty we instead have a cyclical situation whereby many young Lebanese feel a sense of shame about anything related to sex which then reinforces a view of sex which is not as a healthy interaction between two consenting individuals but as a transaction, with women - more often than not - viewed as the giftwrapped package. And this mindset can affect not just how men see the women they are sleeping with, but all women. The

woman walking down the street in a miniskirt is not an independent being who chooses to dress a certain way because it makes her feel good about herself. Rather, she is a product on offer to satisfy the man’s needs. And for some men, if she is not going to take part in this transaction willingly, they can force her to. From a young age, it is essential that the topic of sex is discussed openly and without a sense of shame hanging over it. Imbuing sex with a sense of shame is not going to protect young minds, but will rather create an atmosphere where sex is seen as something to be hidden, something to be pushed into the shadows. Sex education must be completely reformed, both at home and in Lebanese schools. As long as sex is seen as akin to drugs, as is viewed by many young people while growing up, then we will just keep going around in circles. Rather than seeing sex as a normal and natural need - just like eating and sleeping - people see it as something taboo, that they can only pursue at night. This behaviour, in turn, leads men to harass and assault women in the street.

IN PROGRESS Short term fixes such as carrying pepper spray, or dressing conservatively, might make a woman feel safer, but ultimately they reinforce the idea that a woman must protect herself and is responsible for what happens to her because of how she acts or what she wears. Gender rights are about more than equal job opportunities and equal pay. Until we as women can walk home at night and not be afraid, and until a woman is not indirectly blamed for being raped for the clothes she chooses to wear on a certain evening, then we are not truly free.

28 METROPOLIS(T)

THE METROPOLIS(T) ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE –

OMAR BY HANY ABU-ASSAD

t is a fact that nothing makes you both better looking and more intelligent than an extensive knowledge of arthouse cinema. Nothing. So with the collective sex lives of our entire readership in mind, we’ve partnered up with the good people at Metropolis to help increase your right swipe rate on Tinder. Each month you will find a selection of films that you can watch on the big screen and then casually drop into conversation to make people think you are really, really cultured. You’re welcome.

“Abu-Assad does a masterful job of showing, in these seemingly hopeless circumstances, the fragility of life.” Alright, so Omar is a Palestinian baker who lives in the West Bank and he’s got a missus named Nadja. Now, as many obstacles you think your own love life may have, you’ve got nothing on our man Omar. That’s mostly because there is a wall between him and his girl, like literally, the fucking wall. Now, when he’s not baking up delectables or scaling symbols of apartheid (no bias here), he’s hanging out with his childhood mates Tarek and Amjad. They’re not exactly kicking the ball around or playing computer games after late nights out. Their idea of a good time is risking their lives to strike at Israeli military targets. And you thought your crew was hard. It all goes south when Omar gets arrested after the killing of an Israeli soldier and tricked into an admission of guilt by association. He agrees to become an informant (#thatsnotme) and starts playing a dangerous game. Has he really flipped teams? Or is he just playing the long con? Yeah, you’re just going to have to watch and find out for yourself.

METROPOLIS(T) 29

PALME D’OR NOMINEE

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT BY JEAN-PIERRE AND LUC DARDENNE

CANNES JURY PRIZE WINNER

MOMMY BY XAVIER DOLAN Steve is a troubled teenager. When his mother Diane, a widow who does what she needs to do in order to make ends meet, decides to take him out of a government institution - a step below juvenile detention - she is committing an act of deep maternal commitment and taking a huge risk. Now, Steve can be quite the angel at times, but is also volatile and prone to exploding without warning. As Diane tries to manage her son's mood swings at home, it's clear that she's not exactly serene either. As a working class Québécoise woman with a messy personal life, she's barely able to keep it all together. Enter Kyla, the family’s shy neighbour, and the formation of a quite unlikely trio.

Sandra is a young wife and mum who works in a solar panel factory in Seraing, a little industrial gem of a town in the Belgian province of Liège. So far so good. However, when she has a nervous breakdown and is forced to take time off away from her job, the company’s cunt management realizes that if her colleagues work slightly longer shifts they can just sack her....that is if her mates at work agree to put in the extra hours. When Sandra sorts her shit out and gets back to work she learns that the fate of her and her family rests in the hands of her 16 co-workers. Oh and that the management has offered each of them a €1,000 bonus if they comply. Sandra must spend the weekend persuading each of her colleagues to turn down the money that they and their own families also desperately need. Sounds like quite the heavy weekender.

30 FEATURE

NOT JUST ANOTHER WEDDING MASSIVE The DIY electro chaabi scene that arose from the Egyptian suburbs and found its audience on the wedding circuit has now crossed over into the mainstream. AK speaks to Souissy, one of the sceneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young stars. By Natalie Shooter

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ver the last few years, a new music scene has flourished in the working class suburbs of Cairo, a kind of electronic dance music that’s evolved from popular folk chaabi, characterized by cut and paste edits, autotune, lyrics filled with humor and social commentary and spiraling BPMs. Known as Mahraganat (festivals) or electro chaabi, the genre could be an unconscious rebellion against the heavy weight of the country’s great musical heritage. Electro chaabi’s wild chaotic whirring melodies are a liberating separation from the rules and structures of classical Arabic music forms, but there’s real passion in their delivery. Though there are elements of reggaeton, grime, dancehall and even sufi music, it’s a fusion of sounds that can’t easily be boxed in.

A whole new scene of artists has emerged over the last few years including DJs and MCs armed with just a basic PC, a microphone and some rudimentary software. Their tracks are produced in home studios and spread online. With a lack of music venues, or even places to hang out for kids in Cairo’s poorer neighborhoods, the electro chaabi scene has become somewhat of a release. Performances take place mainly across the Egyptian chaabi wedding circuit, in celebratory raves across the country. DJ Figo is one of the scene’s pioneers. Hailing from the Cairo suburb Salam City, it was his “Ana Baba, Y’lla” (I’m Daddy, Let’s go), also featuring artists Amr 7a7a and Sadat al-Almy, that launched the scene not long after the 25 January Revolution. Other stars of

the movement include Sadat and Alaa Fifty Cent, also from Salam City. Their hits include “The People Want Five Pounds Phone Credit,” a mocking play on the slogan of the revolution (The People Want the Fall of the Regime). Their brilliantly titled song “Aha el shibshib daa (Fuck, I’ve lost my slippers!), alongside producer DJ Figo, is a sonic mash-up with swaggering high speed computerized beats and a stop-start rhythm. Though virtuoso keyboardist Islam Chipsy doesn’t like to associate himself with the electro chaabi movement, as a classically trained – and exceptionally talented – musician, he’s certainly part of the wider movement of new chaabi sounds coming out of Egypt. Part of the Egyptian trio EEK alongside two primal

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drummers, Chipsy whirls through complex groovefilled melodies on his keyboard, at times hammering it like a djembe, feeling out the chords with every part of his palm, fist, fingers. He’s a true pioneer. In the Cairo downtown offices of 100Copies, a record label and platform for the alternative Egyptian music scene, 20 year old Ahmed Elseweasy (aka Souissy) sits alongside his manager and founder of matb3aa.com, Mahmoud Matbaa, and Mahmoud Refat, mastermind of 100Copies, wearing a beanie hat and a cheeky smile. He’s become one of the latest rising stars of electro chaabi. His father a Quran reciter, Souissy had a strong connection to music growing up and is rooted in the classical – growing up surrounded by Sufi music and Egyptian greats. He got into electro chaabi in his late teens via DJ Figo. “He was the first from the scene I heard and he inspired me personally,” Souissy says via Skype. “Coming from a classical background it was inspiring for me – in it there is no fear or shame in changing the tradition. It is not based on any rules, just energy and attitude. You have all the freedom.” The first song Souissy produced was for a friend’s wedding party, singing about the neighborhood and

his friends. Since then he’s collaborated with everyone from DJ Figo to Sadat, gathered hundreds of thousands of followers and managed to prove to his parents that being an electro chaabi artist is a credible career. “At the beginning of course they were against it, but when they saw my commitment and started seeing me on TV and offers from new movies coming in, they started to think it was the right thing for me to do,” Souissy says. What started as a scene limited to the Cairo suburbs has spread throughout the entire country and beyond. Two documentaries, Hind Meddeb’s “Electro Chaabi” and Salma El Tarzi’s “Underground/On the Surface,” have further popularized the scene. “The scene has already spread from Alexandria to Aswan and Port Said. It’s exploding everywhere, even with more energy than Cairo,” says Refat. “Around the country it’s very different. It’s like they have big rock stars coming to the city; everybody comes.” A lot of these artists have begun to see music as a real career possibility to be taken seriously. “I always thought I’d have a job and sing now and then. Right now I’m giving all my time and efforts to music. I am not thinking of having a job. Music is my life right now,” Souissy says.

Electro chaabi is the success story of the digital music revolution, with working class artists reaching huge audiences online and achieving success without big budgets, professional recording studios or the aid of record labels. If the A&R man wasn’t already dead, then this is his nail in the coffin. The underground music scene has essentially reached the over ground with some of the biggest hits of electro chaabi reaching millions of views on YouTube. Online platform matb3aa.com has become the main portal for sharing music. Anyone can send mp3s to the site and it’s uploaded without classification or bias and available for free download. Artists’ success is not monopolized by record labels. Rather, it is audience controlled and as a result, far more dynamic. “I think the secret of its success is that it’s free of charge. Its not making money and it has no structure of the ordinary music establishment,” matb3aa.com’s founder Matbaa says. “I don’t judge anyone, the traffic decides what stays and what goes.” Until a few weeks ago, Souissy was recording in a humble home studio, but having recently signed to 100Copies, his recording process is soon set to upgrade. He joins a roster of electro chaabi artists now on the label including Islam Chipsy and Sadat with

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a planned compilation in the works and a series of concerts beyond the wedding format planned, taking their music to new, and most likely more middle class, crowds. But for a genre characterized by its grimy primitive production, will its polishing mean losing the very spirit that defines it? Souissy doesn’t think so, “It’s about time to start thinking differently and more professionally about chaabi music,” he says. “Its not changing our attitude and culture, it’s just about trying to have a form, being in a studio and a good environment. We were not really stressed about the quality of our own studio, but now we started to look at things differently, that this is our career and quality matters.” Now that everything’s fallen into place, the dreams from those Cairo suburbs are big. Pushed forward with some healthy competition between crews, the scene continues to expand and it’s interesting to see where the organically made scene might evolve. Souissy for one hopes to further integrate the spirit of his classical background into chaabi music – fusing together the two – and has big dreams to move beyond the Egyptian scene. “I would like international recognition, to spread my music across different

countries with the same intensity that’s happening in Egypt,” he says. Back in the country though, the biggest achievement of these young electro chaabi stars is to have given kids from their neighborhoods hope. They’ve found a way to create their own mainstream music that, for once, is sung in their own words.

WEBSITE:

facebook.com/ahmedelseweasy 100copies.com matb3aa.com

34 DAS KOMIC

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