Al-Rahbani added in an exclusive interview with “Sky News Arabia”: “I mean here by cumulative way people live. We lack leaders who have a comprehensive vision supported by culture and art, and it is unfortunate that among all those who ran for Parliament, we do not find anyone who has this vision.”
He continued, “We are the people of art and creativity that have carried Lebanon’s face abroad since it gained its independence at the hands of men of media, culture and literature. I hope that colleagues in the field of culture will be able to establish similar works.”
Al-Rahbani said, “There are those who were surprised by the idea of free attendance at the musical evening, but we challenged that to set up a night of hope in Beirut so that the majority of the middle class, employees and students could attend.”
On financing the evening, he said: “We presented a joint cooperation between the artist Heba Tawaji and her husband, the international Lebanese artist Ibrahim Maalouf, in addition to our relationships and the name we carry, which is a source of trust for many people, as well as a group of other shareholders and friends.”
Regarding the choice of the place, Rahbani said: “It has a special symbolism because it was damaged by the explosion of the Port of Beirut, and this is its first opening after its restoration.”
It is noteworthy that the “Night of Hope” was held in the Forum de Beirut exhibition hall, a few meters from the site of the harbor explosion, marking the reopening of the exhibition for the first time since the explosion on August 4, 2020.
The artist, Heba Tawaji, who performed the evening, said: “Osama, Ibrahim and I previously presented a similar concert in France, but our presence in the city that was destroyed by the explosion, specifically from Forum de Beirut, is a message of continuity, and its meaning: We will stay here.”
Attending the concert, whose tunes resounded throughout the capital, was free, and carried the slogan “the revolution” on the tragic situation in which the Lebanese are living, dedicating “resistance to all difficulties, through culture, art, singing, and the call to continue and overcome difficulties.”
In the midst of a heavy attendance of nearly 5,000 people who filled the hall, they went to Beirut from everywhere and interacted with the evening that brought them back a glimmer of hope. Diplomatic, artistic, social, media and cultural figures came forward.
The evening began with a touching scene represented by the special attention towards the families of the victims of the Beirut Port explosion, through the presentation of a short video reminding of the disaster, and stressing the need to reach the full truth, after which Heba Tawaji rose to the stage amid the applause of the audience, and opened the event with the song “You must change the system.” She also dedicated, with a direct gesture, the song “Wahyat Elly Rahwa” to the souls of the victims of the August 4th explosion.
The evening, which the Lebanese watched on local television, participated in, the music composer Ibrahim Al-Maalouf, with a special view of the Lebanese singer Elissa, who presented a patriotic song composed by Osama Rahbani and written by Kamal Kobeisy.
Elissa and Tawaji also paid tribute to the spirit of the Rahbani brothers, Mansour, Assi and Elias Rahbani, knowing that the latter died last year after being infected with the Corona virus.
Elissa told Sky News Arabia: “It is an evening of hope for Lebanon. The performance of the artist Heba Tawaji was outstanding,” and she thanked Osama Rahbani for “this distinguished national work.”
The evening included artistic paintings that embodied the Lebanese political and economic reality, criticized the political authority that brought Lebanon to what it is, and embodied the migration of the Lebanese and the suffering of the people in their daily lives.
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