OneBeat Lebanon will convened 10 Lebanon-based musicians and two U.S.-based musicians (ages 19-35) for an intensive residency to collaboratively create original work and to develop civically engaged music initiatives. During the 3-week intensive digital residency, 12 OneBeat Lebanon Fellows formed ensembles to write, record, produce, and perform genre-defying work, re-invent existing music, lead online workshops with refugee youth, attend virtual masterclasses and produce a final concert at Metro al Madina in Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood.
OneBeat Lebanon will explore the notion of music as ‘mother tongue’. Responding to widespread crises of communication and pandemic isolation, the virtual 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? Participants from the United States and Lebanon will create music that evokes deep dialogue and develop strategies to unite us across cultural and geographic divides.
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. OneBeat Lebanon was Artistic Directed by Lebanese composer and accordion player Samah Boulmona.