Author Description

This Book Offers The First In-depth Study Of Experimental And Popular Music Scenes In Beirut, Looking At Musicians Working Towards A New Understanding Of Musical Creativity And Music Culture In A Country That Is Dominated By Mass-mediated Pop Music, And Propaganda. Burkhalter Studies The Generation Of Musicians Born At The Beginning Of The Civil War In The Lebanese Capital, An Urban And Cosmopolitan Center With A Long Tradition Of Cultural Activities And Exchanges With The Arab World, Europe, The Us, And The Former Soviet Union. These Lebanese Rappers, Rockers, Death-metal, Jazz, And Electro-acoustic Musicians And Free Improvisers Choose Local And Transnational Forms To Express Their Connection To The Broader Musical, Cultural, Social, And Political Environment. Burkhalter Explores How These Musicians Organize Their Own Small Concerts For 'insider' Audiences, Set Up Music Labels, And Network With Like-minded Musicians In Europe, The Us, And The Arab World. Several Key Tracks Are Analyzed With Methods From Ethnomusicology, And Popular Music Studies, And Contextualized Through Interviews With The Musicians. Discussing Key References From Belly Dance Culture (1960s), Psychedelic Rock In Beirut (1970s), The Noises Of The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), And Transnational Pop-avant-gardes And World Music 2.0 Networks, This Book Contributes To The Study Of Localization And Globalization Processes In Music In An Increasingly Digitalized And Transnational World. At The Core, This Music From Beirut Challenges Ethnocentric Perceptions Of Locality In Music. It Attacks Both Orientalist Readings Of The Arab World, The Middle East, And Lebanon, And The Focus On Musical Difference In Euro-american Music And Culture Markets. On Theoretical Grounds, This Music Is A Small, But Passionate Attempt To Re-shape The World Into A Place Where Modernity Is Not Euro-modernity Or Euro-american Modernity, But Where Possible New Configurations Of Modernity Exist Next To Each Other. -- Publisher. Theory And Methodology: Music Making In A Digitalized World. Globalization And Digitalization In Music; Theoretical Frame; Methodological Approach -- Ethnography: Musicians From Beirut Born During The Lebanese Civil War. Experimental Music; Metal Music And Classic Rock; Urban Music; Rap; Transnational Networks (human Hubs); Music As A Media Product; Musicians As Actors -- Analysis: Six Key Tracks From Beirut. Zeid Hamdan: Aranis (remixed); Garo Gdanian: Remains Of A Bloodbath; Mazen Kerbaj: Blblb Flblb, Zrrrt, Piiiiiiiiiiii; Taga Of Daga; Raed Yassin: Civil War Tapes; Charbel Haber: Track 5: Rayess Bek: Schizophrenia -- History: Music And Noise In Lebanon From The Past And Present. Ground Setting: The Urbanization And Europeanization Of Music In The Arab World; Modern Music From Cairo, Old Music From Aleppo; European Music And Christian Hymns In Beirut (1926-1948); The Creation Of A Lebanese Music (1948-1967); Nasserism Versus Tourism (1952-1967); The Rise Of Dissident Culture And Alternative Music (1968-1975); Bombs, Protest, Propaganda And Rock Music From The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990); Pan-arabic Pop And The 2006 War -- Meaning: Reading Lebanese Music Making From Different Perspectives. Historical Perspectives; Sociopolitical Perspectives; Geopolitical Perspectives; Psychological Perspectives; Aesthetical Perspectives; Euro-american Perspectives. Thomas Burkhalter. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 269-281), Discography (pages 283-285), And Index.