In the Arab world, “groups are rare and often do not find success, with the exception of those operating in the alternative scene, which has created its own space in a world dominated by [le chanteur de charme égyptien et superstar de la chanson arabe] Amr Diab and his colleagues”, writes the Lebanese journalist Jihad Bazzi on the website ofAl-Modon.
The Lebanese pro-LGBTQI pop rock group Mashrou’ Leila had become the standard-bearer of this alternative Arab music scene. But on Sunday September 11, its leader, Hamed Sinno, announced in a podcast that the members of the group were not planning to work together again, sounding, in other words, the end of Mashrou ‘Leila.
Formed in 2008 in a music hall of the prestigious American University of Beirut, Mashrou’ Leila [littéralement “Le Projet de Leila”, en arabe] was a resounding success. Thanks to his melodic electro music but also to the freedom of his lyrics.
“Mashrou’ Leila deals, in music and in words, in her raw way, with the problems of an entire generation, with the right of everyone to be proud of their identity – whatever it is –, to oppose