Muslim, gay and the lead singer of Mashrou’ Leila, arguably the Arab world’s most influential independent band, Hamed Sinno has been obliged to do battle with the region’s stereotypes in complex and often confrontational ways. In Lebanon, his authenticity is scrutinised by a watchful public: when we meet, it is his hair that’s up for debate. He bleached it recently, and strangers on social media are accusing him of “deciding to become whiter.” Abroad, his religion and sexuality put him at the overlap of a Venn diagram whose existence is rarely broadcast. As he put it at a concert in Washington DC in June: “This is what it looks like to be called both a terrorist and a faggot.”
The offshoot of jam sessions after classes at the American University, Mashrou’ Leila (the name means “night project” in Arabic) formed in 2008. Aside from Sinno, the lyricist and vocalist, the band consists of Firas Abou Fakher (guitar, keyboard and musical arrangement); Haig Papazian (violin); Ibrahim Badr (bass) and Carl Gerges (drums). It might be described as “poppy”, were it not for the gravitas of Sinno’s keening vocals and the melancholy of Papazian’s classical Armenian violin.
They have made politics their platform. Their lyrics, written by Sinno, address Lebanon’s militarised society, its corruption, gun violence and religious divides. They are socially subversive, sometimes playfully so.
The band’s insistence on only singing in Arabic, and on couching their criticisms of Lebanon in terms that don’t lionise the west, has won them a passionate fan base of so called “Leilaholics” who pushed their newest album Ibn el Leil (Son of the Night) to the top of the country’s iTunes chart on its release last year. The international audience for their music is also growing. More here.