30 June 2005

BEIRUT: It hasn't been easy for Naji Baz and his Buzz Productions company to put together the Byblos International Festival in the northern Lebanese town of Jbeil this year. First his preferred dates to hold the festival in the cooler month of June had to be dropped in favor of late July due to Lebanon's four-week long elections, thus bringing him into direct competition with the Beiteddine and Baalbek Festivals making it more difficult to put bums on seats.

Second, he has had to face - like all the other festivals - questions of ensuring his acts' safety after the spate of bombings which began with the Valentine's Day killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri and the weeks of political uncertainty that have ensued. Persuading some acts that Lebanon was a safe place has not been easy.

Third, Baz dealt with the most painful situation for any promoter and that was the confirmation of the Scottish punk-rock band Franz Ferdinand for the festival and then, as word spread, the announcement of their cancellation due ostensibly to recording commitments.

Finally, on the day of the Byblos Festival Program announcement last Tuesday, the Lebanese politician George Hawi was brutally murdered in a car bomb and though no one would ever give more importance to a musical event over the assassination of a respected man, the press conference was cancelled. The same had happened on the day of the Beiteddine Festival's program announcement when the outspoken journalist Samir Kassir was similarly killed.

And so rather than the excitement normally generated by the announcement of the summer festivals' line-ups, in 2005 the programs have gone off with a mere pop.

Despite all of this, Baz and his team have come up with a festival of world music that, though not on par with last year's hugely successful edition featuring reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, pop-rocker Bryan Ferry and glam-rockers Placebo, is still a celebration of music that is rarely witnessed in Lebanon.

"It has been a nightmare but I am confident we have put together now a tight line-up that is worthy of the Byblos Festival brand," Baz told The Daily Star.

For the two nights of July 22 and 23 a Lebanese audience will have the opportunity to witness the popular rock of Roger Hodgson, the lead singer and guitarist of 1970s and 80s band Supertramp. They will have the chance to listen to the brilliant abstract jazz of pianist Brad Mehldau and his trio, (July 24), as well as the Cuban sounds of Omara Portuondo - one of the few remaining living stars and only female one, of the now legendary Buena Vista Social Club (July 29).

Add to that the 20-string Armenian Serenade Chamber Orchestra with a deep and haunting classical program (July 31), and the oriental jazz of the stunning Azerbaijani pianist and singer Aziza Mustafa Zadeh (August 4) followed by a Rahbani family musical based on Gibran Khalil Gibran's famous book "The Prophet" (August 17-20).

Baz is also putting on, as he does every year, a show of the Arab Star Academy kids though this is not strictly part of the Byblos Festival on July 15.

Perhaps the best thing, though, about Byblos is the setting. All the performances take place in the heart of the ancient town's old quarter with the backdrop of the fantastic Crusader Citadel magically lit against the night sky. The whole experience of Byblos, like Beiteddine and Baalbek, is one of elegant beauty and singular moments with the buzz of the modern-day souk surrounding the festival and fine foods available at the restaurants in the old port and town center. Go for a weekend, stay the night and enjoy the city's beaches during the day. A great advantage of Byblos is that it is just half-an-hour's drive from Beirut, a much shorter journey than those to Baalbek and Beiteddine.

In the end, however, it is for the music that you will go and though the caliber of performers this year is second to none in their fields, the lack of a superior name may well affect sales. The program is also not one that will attract the younger generation that Byblos has so actively pursued in recent years. That plan was dented by Franz Ferdinand's cancellation, although Baz and the band's agent at Helter Skelter in London insisted they would come in 2006 fresh off the release of their new album later this year.

The highlights of Byblos 2005 though, without question are Mehldau and Portuondo. The former is an American jazz piano virtuoso who can fill venues as prestigious as London's Wigmore Hall and with his trio is reminiscent of a quietly reflective Ahmad Jamal. Mehldau makes no concessions to the audience, rarely communicates with them and simply plays brilliant original music. There are no electronics, fusion or smooth-jazz singers, just powerful composition and long improvisations. On the Byblos stage it is likely to be an immensely satisfying performance.

The septuagenarian Omara Portuondo will be very different and perhaps more accessible to an unquestioning audience - a diva of great presence, she will perform with 12 Cuban musicians and transform Byblos into Havana for a night of traditional Latin sounds. In the 1940s and 1950s hers was the velvet voice of the jazz/bossa nova-inspired genre known as filin. Today Portuondo's show is a translucent one made up of 5 decades of Afro-Cuban artistry seasoned with strings, woodwinds, guitars, and background vocals, all about love.

Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, though less well-known, has been performing for many years and has played to audiences around the world. Her father was the leader of the Azerbaijan Jazz movement until he died in 1979 and she has continued his legacy playing a brand of world jazz on her piano, scatting like Ella Fitzgerald and incorporating the traditional Azerbaijan form of Mugam into her jazz. A highly improvisational style, Mugam refers to a modal system of music of which there exist over 70 types, all defined by their specific pattern of intervals, range, as well as direction of melodic movement and rhythm. This will be a fascinating show.

For lovers of classical music the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra presenting the Serenade Chamber Orchestra from Yerevan will be an elegant evening of pure string pleasure, while Oussama, Mansour and Marwan Rahbani's latest musical play telling the story of Gibran's "The Prophet" features the artwork of over 80 Lebanese artists.

The show that will pack the Byblos Festival, however, will be that of Hodgson. Famed for his unique alto voice, Hodgson's former band Supertramp achieved global fame with the soft rock of songs like "Dreamer" and "Breakfast in America," and his many fans in Lebanon are unlikely to let him leave the stage without at least three encores.

For more information or tickets for the Byblos Festival go to www.byblosfestival.org or contact the Virgin Megastore Ticketing Office on +961 1 999666