Mashrouʼ Leila is not a bandʼs name. It is not a proper noun per se; Mashrouʼ Leila is Arabic for ʻan overnight projectʼ lusting out a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards. It started out as a music workshop at the American University of Beirut in 2008, an open platform for students of architecture and design, somewhere to experiment with sounds and make things audible. Haig Papazian, Carl Gerges, Hamed Sinno, Omaya Malaeb, Andre Chedid, Firas Abou Fakher and Ibrahim Badr have enjoyed this sound fetish savoring its façade of nonchalance and feeding on its lack of genre – sustaining their collective as Mashrouʼ Leila, an experiment. 

You can hear Leila, cascading melts of masculine vocals only suspended with thrusts of violin, beats and bass – attacked by neurotic melody that means no harm – sometimes tender, even sometimes on pause. Through the music, you can smell where Leila has been, in bed sheets, on sidewalks, jasmines in riﬂes and spilled coffee on dresses as she made you play with aubergines, dancing her dance. Music has constantly been their place to play with things, to match and mis-match, a project. 

In the various performances, Mashrouʼ Leila is a constant attempt to taste and produce, more than happy to harvest anyone from the audience as a guest in their encores. They have performed around Lebanon since 2008, playing in various venues in Beirut, taking over supposed public piazzas as well as clubs, pubs, hybrids and the such – they also played in Zahle, Sour, Jounieh, Saida and Deir el Qamar, each of which pushed forward their thinking about how to go about their music, lyrics and performance. It is only when Mashrouʼ Leila goes live, that you can actually catch a glimpse of Leila. As it talks to you of Beirut, the city that tastes of the absurd, the product of its day-to-day experiences, its stubborn security and lack of the latter, its musical bombshells, incoherent sexuality and thrusting pleasure…narcotic pain – as it brings forward hints of Arabic Tarab, rock, to folk pop, electro, you can see Leila in every man and woman in the silent- come-raving audience. In this trajectory, they participated in music workshops and concerts in Amman and Cairo to maneuver their way into a pan-Arab music scene, to know and to announce, more importantly to grow, musically. 

In March 2009, Mashrouʼ Leila won the Lebanese Modern Music Contest jury prize and public vote organized by Radio Liban in partnership with CCF, Incognito and the Basement. They recorded their debut album with B-root Productions, released in December 2009. The music in the album is a reclamation of the aftertaste; sequel-ing a dose of Beirut.

written by Raafat Majzoub

Sian Cross is a singer songwriter from the West Country, now based in London. As a backing vocalist, she’s performed with Stevie Wonder, Jessie J, Daniel Bedingfield, Mica Paris and on the X Factor. As an artist in her own right, she’s recorded at Abbey Road, sung in the Royal Albert Hall, appeared on national TV, and has recorded sessions for BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Wales.
The passion and integrity that Sian exudes when performing makes her stand out from the rest. When asked, Sian simply puts it down to life experience:
Not only has she been through the normal degree of hurt and heartache any girl in her twenties will have experienced, she also lost her father to cancer at a young age and was then diagnosed with a life threatening tumour herself. At just 20 years old, Sian had to undergo open heart surgery to have it removed. It took months of recovery in order for her to get back on her feet again, both emotionally as well as physically. Music very much kept her going through this tough time. Sian has been left with life-long scars as a result of the operation, however she wears them with pride and truly believes that this has helped shape her both as an artist and as the person that she is today.
Now back in the studio, Sian is writing her debut album and taking a unique approach to doing so. She’s been getting deep into the heart of our nation’s stories and meeting with some amazing people who have also had to overcome huge hurdles in their lives.
Sian’s debut album will be a true account of their life stories. From Alzheimer’s to child abuse Sian covers many subjects most artists shy away from. She not only aims to inspire people, but also to raise awareness for the issues that so many of our society face in silence everyday.
The tracks that have already been recorded for the album are lyrically heart warming, thought provoking and musically athemic with their own unique and current sound. This is definitely a space to watch.

نُوستْالّچِيَا باند.. تصوَّف و كفيَ
نخاطبُ الرُّوحَ.. فالجسدُ يَفْنَي



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