The music of Lebanon has a long history. Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, has long been known, especially in a period immediately following World War II, for its art and intellectualism. Several singers emerged in this period, among the most famous Fairuz, Sabah, Wadih El Safi, Nasri Shamseddine, Melhem Barakat, Majida El Roumi, Ahmad Kaabour, Marcel Khalife, and Ziad Rahbani, who—in addition to being an engaged singer-songwriter and music composer—was also a popular playwright. Lydia Canaan was hailed by the media as the first rock star of the Middle East.
Nouhad Wadie' Haddad, known as Fairuz, is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists and most famous singers in the history of the Arab world. Fairuz is considered the musical icon of Lebanon and is popularly known as "the soul of Lebanon".
The culture of Lebanon and the Lebanese people emerged from various civilizations over thousands of years. It was home to the Phoenicians and was subsequently conquered and occupied by the Assyrians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks and the French. This variety is reflected in Lebanon's diverse population, composed of different religious groups, and features in the country's festivals, literature, artifacts, cuisine and architecture of Lebanon. Tourism in Lebanon is popular with periods of interruption during conflict.
Marcel Khalife is a Lebanese musical composer, singer, and oud player.
Najwa Karam is a Lebanese multi-platinum singer, producer, fashion icon, tv personality and songwriter. Dubbed Shams el-Ghinnieh, Karam is noted for her powerful Mawwal-skilled vocals. She has gained an international audience due to her distinct blend of traditional Lebanese music and contemporary sounds which has contributed to the spread of the Lebanese dialect in Arabic Music. Having sold tens of millions of records, Najwa Karam is the best selling recording Arabic language singers. She has sold over than 60 million records worldwide, and she became the highest selling artist in between 1999-2011 and in 2008. In 2023, Karam boasts a social media following of nearly 40 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Karam was named to Forbes 50 Over 50: Europe, Middle East And Africa 2023. She continues to frequently perform throughout the Arab world and internationally.
Ziad Rahbani is a Lebanese composer, pianist, playwright, and political commentator. He is the son of Fairouz, one of Lebanon and the Arab world's most famous singers, and Assi Rahbani, one of the founders of modern Arab music.
The culture of the Palestinian people is influenced by the many diverse cultures and religions which have existed in the historical region of Palestine. Their cultural and linguistic heritage is a blend of both Arabic elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years.
The Rahbani brothers, Assi Rahbani and Mansour Rahbani were Lebanese sibling musicians, composers, songwriters, authors, and playwrights/dramatists, best known for their work with the singer Fairuz, Assi's wife. Their younger brother Elias Rahbani was also a famous lyricist and composer.
Carole Samaha is a Lebanese singer, actress, and performer. She has released six studio albums. Samaha has a Master's degree in acting and directing, which she earned in 1999 from the Saint Joseph University of Beirut.
Kinan Azmeh, is a Syrian clarinet player and composer of contemporary music. Performing with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, or the Syrian Symphony Orchestra, he has played both as a soloist of classical works as well as of contemporary compositions.
Abdulsalam Haykal is a Syrian technology and media entrepreneur, who lives and works in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is the co-founder of Haykal Media, one of the Middle East’s main provider of digital knowledge and information platforms in Arabic, with several flagship products including the Arabic editions of Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Popular Science, the new magazine Aliqtisadi, the English monthly Forward Magazine and Manhom. The Report: Emerging Syria 2008 listed Haykal Media with its magazines and online media as one of three main players in the media sector in Syria. Haykal is also the founder and a board member of Transtek, an enterprise software development firm.
El Sawy Culture Wheel is a cultural center on Gezira Island in the Zamalek district on central Cairo, Egypt. Named after its founder and owner, Abdelmoniem El-Sawy, it is considered one of the most important cultural venues in Egypt and receives more than 20,000 visitors each month.
Abeer Nehme is a Lebanese singer and a musicologist. She performs traditional Tarab music, Lebanese traditional music, Rahbani music, and sacred music from the Syriac-Maronite, Syriac-Orthodox, and Byzantine traditions.
Hiba Michel Tawaji is a Lebanese singer, actress, and director. Since 2008, she has established herself in the Lebanese and Arab music scene with her 4-octave vocal range.
Theatre in Lebanon has its origin in passion plays. The musical plays of Maroun Naccache from the mid-1800s are considered the birth of modern Arab theatre. Some scholars, such as Abdulatif Shararah, have divided Lebanese theatre into three historical phases centered on 1) translations of European plays, 2) Arab nationalism, and 3) realism.
Dima Orsho is a Syrian mezzosoprano singer and composer. She studied first at the Damascus Higher Institute for Music, then at the Boston Conservatory. Since 2003, she has been a member of the Syrian Hewar ensemble, alongside Kinan Azmeh, Issam Rafea and others.
Oussama Al Rahbani is a Lebanese musician and composer. He is the son of the Lebanese composer, musician and poet Mansour Rahbani.
Experimental theatre in the Arab world emerged in the post-colonial era as a fusion of Western theatrical traditions with local performance cultures such as music and dance. It is characterized by hybridity as it transposes Arabic traditional performances that were usually seen in public squares and marketplaces to theatre buildings. Experimental theatre in the Arab world has historically taken forms of Forum theatre by using audience participation as a way to smooth conflicts and resolve social tension. The audience is then transformed from a commonly passive into a proactive and involved one. It has been seen as a form of theatre of resistance and cultural activism as it deals with contemporary sensitive issues of the region such as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Arab Spring, the role of women in Arabic society and religion. Such issues are often dealt with using humour. Throughout the years, experimental theatre in the Arab world has gradually converted into a synonymous of non-mainstream and underground art movements in which artists are always evolving and breaking down conventional markers between actors and spectators. The script combines the appropriation and dis-appropriation of Western models and is usually organic, more improvisational and self-reflexive. In the late 2000s, improvisational theatre which takes forms of stand-up comedy shows has also emerged around the Arab world.
The Syrian Cultural Caravan is an artistic and cultural movement led by Syrian artists. Started in 2014 as a project called "Freedom for the Syrian People", it took the form of a road trip, taking off from France and continuing across Europe. In face of the success met in 2014, the project became a movement entitled the "Syrian Cultural Caravan". The project aims at bringing a wide diversity of artists together around a multi-format exhibition mixing paintings, photographs, dance, music, film screenings, as well as debates and the sharing of food. The goal of the project is "to promote Syrian civil society and contemporary Syrian art and culture" by debunking the public's expectations. Artists create a platform for debate on which they can offer their own narrative to counterweight the mainstream narrative of the media.
Takla Chamoun Farjallah is a Lebanese actress, drama instructor, producer, and the co-founder and CEO of the Lebanese Film Academy. Chamoun is highly regarded in the Middle East and the Arab World for her acting and her ability to mold into a character.
