We’re thrilled to announce our 2021 OneBeat Lebanon Fellows! 12 talented artists from the United States and Lebanon will meet in Beirut to participate in a 3-week residency to collaboratively create original work and develop civically engaged music initiatives inspired by the theme ‘Mother Tongue’. Responding to widespread crises of communication and pandemic isolation, the program will draw inspiration from the musical elements of pre-verbal sound-making and pose the question, what if, in a parallel universe, music was the only language?
Based out of Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood, Fellows will attend creative workshops, write and record in ensembles, perform a reduced capacity concert at famed theatre Metro al Madina and collaborate with nonprofit Action for Hope to lead creative workshops for refugee youth from Beqaa Valley. Fellows will also attend masterclasses by Egyptian singer Maryam Saleh, composer Makram Aboul Hosn, electronic producer and Buzuq player Abed Kobeissy, and ethnomusicologist and performer Youmna Saba.
Click here to watch videos and read bios for the OneBeat Lebanon Fellows. And follow along during the residency via @onebeatlebanon on Instagram and Facebook.
OneBeat Lebanon is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and produced by Found Sound Nation. This program was produced with the generous support of the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon.
