{"id":9122,"date":"2023-01-29T14:48:38","date_gmt":"2023-01-29T14:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/?p=9122"},"modified":"2023-09-13T07:59:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T07:59:55","slug":"the-three-stooges-escapism-hedonism-and-the-lebanese-nightlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/al-rawiya.com\/ar\/the-three-stooges-escapism-hedonism-and-the-lebanese-nightlife\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Stooges – Escapism, Hedonism, and the Lebanese Nightlife"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Credits:<\/em> Light shining on  rock formations during Resonate by The  Ballroom Blitz, The <\/i>first 2 day solo outdoor festival. Feytroun, Lebanon, 2022. Photo Courtesy of Stephani Moukhaiber.

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Feytroun, Lebanon, Summer 2022. <\/i>Somewhere in between the region’s most amazing rock formations with mere hours separating us from sunrise, an arm extended itself over the crowd of dancing people and passed me what looked like a lollipop. Dazed and confused, I grabbed and opened the strawberry Chupa Chups. And then came along the sugar rush I didn’t know I needed to make it past sunrise.

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This was my first night out like that in Beirut since I had left it a decade ago. My body, mind, and soul were vibrating, moving along with the DJ\u2019s beats. As adrenaline rushed through my veins, I couldn\u2019t believe I had missed out on this feeling for 10 years. I felt free and alive, surrounded by strangers that oddly seemed like longtime friends. There was a special kind of energy flowing among the partygoers: people exchanged smiles as they bopped their heads to the music and took care of each other on the dancefloor, like how my friend took care of me by giving me that lollipop.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Credits: Friends dancing during Resonate by The Ballroom Blitz, Feytroun, Lebanon, 2022. Photo Courtesy of Alex Sassine<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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One of my goals for my 2022 trip to Beirut was to get lost in the music and in the party scene to compensate for all that I had missed out on while away. I dove head first into that escapist mentality within my first three weeks, and overindulged in what the scene had to offer me. Upon my return to Montreal, I had many questions about my experience and the environment that I had been deeply entrenched in during my stay. So, I sat down with some of the biggest names in the industry to delve deeper into the multifaceted world of Lebanese nightlife and understand its role in the escapist mentality most Lebanese youth are participating in today.\u00a0<\/p>

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In a country so small like Lebanon, the different spaces within the art sphere are all somehow correlated and intertwined.\u00a0 Ziad Nawfal<\/a>, DJ, radio host, music promoter, and producer, explains that both the club and music scene are connected: though they do have the same audiences to some extent, they ultimately are different bubbles as different groups of people founded, nurtured and scaled them. However, no matter how different each of these cliques are, the notions of escapism and hedonism are felt everywhere, just expressed in distinct forms.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Credits: Video Courtesy of Beirut Jam Sessions<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Individuals usually tend to \u2018escape\u2019 or resort to \u2018escapism\u2019 when they are in a constant state of disappointment and\/or depression, and decide to occupy themselves with their imagination, entertainment, and even substance use. Hedonism however, is the notion that happiness and pleasure in life come before anything else.\u00a0 In Lebanon\u2019s case, people mostly experience escapism by attending a \u2018happening\u2019 party, and in parallel, experience hedonism by indulging in whatever pleasures the party has to offer, from music to substances, in order to numb their anxieties.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Credits: Rust performing in Hammana during Beirut Jam Sessions. Photo Courtesy of Cliff Makhoul. 2022<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Lebanon\u2019s Evolving Music and Club Scene and their influence on the community<\/i><\/b><\/p>

In my chat with Anthony Semaan<\/a>, cofounder of Beirut Jam Sessions<\/a>, we discussed the music scene in Lebanon, and how it had changed as a result of existing circumstances. Anthony shed light on how the current situation in Lebanon is translated in the content created and produced by musicians and independent artists. \u201c[Y]ou can feel their pain and challenges through their lyrics and music, a lot of it is very dark.\u201d<\/p>

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In the club scene however, escapism took on a different form and this can be seen in the \u2018partygoer\u2019 behavior. Whether it be through the (over)consumption of sex, drugs, and alcohol or by taking advantage of the \u2018safety\u2019 these spaces offered, people were coming together to feel a sense of belonging and to let go of their stresses together.<\/p>



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Credits: \"Afterlife\" - Tale of us, performing Live at the Seaside Arena Beirut, 2022. Photo Courtesy of Cynthia Ghousoub<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The club scene started to form in the early 2000s with The Basement, Uberhaus and B018 Karantina. The Basement hosted not only electronic acts but also regular live bands such as Scrambled Eggs<\/a> and Mashrou’ Leila<\/a>. In 2014 folks behind The Basement formed Factory People<\/a>, a Beirut-based group of artists and music enthusiasts, <\/a>and did what they do best: cater to their crowd. With the opening of the Grand Factory and other venues, the group has been very successful at defining what dance music and house music looks like in a club in Lebanon, through the creation of recurrent themed nights such as House of Pop, Love Night, C U NXT SAT, Habibi Club, and 2nd Sun. During the October 2019 Revolution, they took a very firm stand and pioneered the movement within their industry. Using all of their platforms they encouraged people to take the streets. This resulted in having to shut down their operations for a while to incentivize their teams to join the protests, all while ensuring pay checks are extended at the end of the month. When speaking to Jade, founder of Factory People, he mentioned that everything they do is very linked to the people around them and reflective of what they need at a given time, which leads club goers to feel more connected to the music and comfortable with the atmosphere in their venues. Their spaces were unfortunately completely damaged by the August 4 Blast and are still under reconstruction, but will be opening their doors again very soon. With the reopening,\u00a0 Factory People plans to relaunch community driven initiatives such as BBX, an artist residency program that consists of a series of workshops and competitions taking place across different clubs over a three month period. The winner of BBX will get to travel to Berlin on all expenses paid trip and produce an album with a renowned German producer. On January 27th, another exciting concept is launching, Friday Night Live, a weekly concert series supporting local bands at their venue Reunion.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Une publication partag\u00e9e par William Mahfoud - Rise 1969 (@rise1969)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>