Claire Wrathall
18.11.09

Strolling along the Corniche, which runs along the northernmost stretch of Beirut’s Mediterranean seaboard, on a warm Saturday evening, dodging power walkers, promenaders and soignée women with dogs in their handbags, it was striking how very good-looking so many Beirutis are.

Not perhaps the fishermen hoping to catch supper with a spindly rod balanced on the parapet wall; the narghile (or shisha-pipe) smokers huddled close to their cars from whose radios blasted loud Lebanese pop; or ka’ik vendors, peddling discs of hot bread with fist-sized holes, through which locals thread their arms in order to “wear” them home, like giant bangles.

But many of the women — some in hijabs, a few in sweats, others in Saturday-night best — had the demeanour of models. Even the mothers of children en route to the giant Ferris wheel at Lunapark looked more serene than their western counterparts might in similar circumstances.

This is most likely thanks to cosmetic surgery. Even in these credit-crunched times, Lebanon’s First National Bank is offering loans of up to $5,000 to “cover all your plastic surgery operations”, under the banner “Beauty is no longer a luxury”.

The reason has its roots less in vanity than in Lebanon’s war-torn past. Twenty years ago, when the civil war still raged, 90 per cent of surgeons’ work was reconstructive; today it’s almost all cosmetic.

Three years on from the Israeli bombing of southern Beirut, and despite what the UK’s Foreign Office calls a “fragile” peace and a visible military presence, Lebanon feels reborn.

Take the vibrant pedestrianised downtown district known as Solidère, a risen-from-the-rubble development of offices, shops, bars and cafés, stylistically a little too polished and post-modern, perhaps, but its faux rue-de-Rivoli arcades keep the sun off shoppers concerned for their complexions.

This was the part of town I was staying in, at the city’s smartest, newest hotel, Le Gray, a sophisticated, efficient 87-room boutique that opened on 1 November.

A more stylish alternative to the two InterContinentals on the Corniche — hitherto Beirut’s best hotels — it’s already made the city a more alluring destination for European weekenders.

It’s already so popular with locals that my friends and I in our group couldn’t get a table here for Sunday lunch, neither at its smart sixth-floor restaurant, Indigo — which offers a broadly international menu like its London namesake — nor its buzzy corner café, improbably named Gordon’s (despite a fine range of Lebanese salads) after its proprietor, Gordon Campbell Gray, the hotelier behind London’s One Aldwych and Dukes and Antigua’s Carlisle Bay.

Fortunately, there was space on the roof terrace, alongside its heated mauve-tiled, glass-walled swimming pool, from which on a clear day you can see not just the sea, but snow-capped Mount Lebanon.

Le Gray’s location on Place des Martyrs couldn’t be better, close to the café-encircled Place d’Etoile (they don’t call Beirut the Paris of the East for nothing) and Beirut Souks (more of a mall than a medina).

It’s also convenient for the city’s three main mosques — its proximity to the visible-for-miles 21st-century Mohammed al-Amin mosque ensures you never get lost — and the city’s three cathedrals.

Not that there aren’t myriad secular sights, too, ranging from Roman baths and colonnades to the Sursock Museum of modern Lebanese art (Le Gray, too, has more than 500 contemporary paintings and sculptures), by way of Byzantine mosaic pavements, crumbling Ottoman mansions and the National Museum.

Le Gray is metres from the Quartier des Arts, aka Saifi Village, a redevelopment of the area once bisected by the Green Line, the barricade that divided Muslim west Beirut from the Christian east side during the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

Here I found galleries and shops selling jewellery, richly embroidered local fashion (check out the coats in Assyla, on Riadh Sohl Street), carpets and homeware.

On Saturday mornings, Saifi also hosts a terrific farmers’ market, Souk el Tayeb, where locals buy organic veg, aromatic spices, flatbread brushed with herb-infused oils, the deep-fried lozenges of minced lamb and cracked wheat they call kibbeh and exquisite home-made marzipan.

That said, it would be a shame to spoil your appetite for lunch, especially if you’ve booked a table at, say, Casablanca, an old villa on the Corniche with modern interiors, sea views and a menu rich in slightly Asian takes on local fish.

Beirutis dine late, after which the beautiful people gather in the bars of Gemmayzeh, immediately east of Saifi and 10 minutes from Le Gray.

For the moment, the place to be is Myu on rue St-Antoine but next weekend sees the opening of Bar ThreeSixty on top of Le Gray, a glass-walled, blue-lit, lantern-shaped structure with jaw-dropping views. Beirut’s beau monde won’t be long in making it their own.

DETAILS

The flight
BMI flies daily from Heathrow, returns from £429.40, www.flybmi.com

The hotel
Le Gray has doubles from $346.50, www.legray.com

The restaurants
Casablanca Ain el-Mreisseh, Corniche (0011 961 1369 334) Myu Rue St-Antoine (0011 961 334 476)

Tours
Black Tomato offers a Beirut-based four-day package from £1,105pp that can include skiing, from January to March, as well as visits to Baalbek, Byblos and into the Bekaa Valley, www.blacktomato.co.uk, www.lebanon-tourism.gov.lb

Michel Hayek’s new predictions in “Ahmar Bel Khat el-Aarid” on LBCI (28/10/2009)

- Unidentified objects will be seen, this time not only in the air, but in different places. These revelations will be the subject of many studies.

- An old archeological site will be discovered with carvings and paintings related to space, astrology and unidentified objects.

- Despite the many dialogues and negotiations and compromises regarding the government formation, I see a number of top Lebanese politicians regretting it after the formation.

- Joseph Sader’s kidnapping case reaches an end.

- The case of the four generals to further developments and complications; I see a red circle of heat around it that is about to expand.

- An unexpected event will accompany an official Lebanese holiday.

- Parliamentary brouhaha; some parliamentary seats will be in peril, there will be a rush to find a settlement.- Confusing battle over former minister Wiaam Wahhab’s name.

- An Iranian military action outside its borders.

- An israeli plot, of a different kind and with a different tactic

- according to my calculations, it has failed twice so far – a thrid attempt is on the way.

Marcel Khalifé

Composer, Oud Master and Performer

Marcel Khalifé was born on June 10, 1950 in Amchit, Lebanon. He studied the Oud (the Arabic lute) at the Beirut National Conservatory of Music and graduated in 1971, and, ever since, has been injecting a new life into the Oud.

From 1972 to 1975, Marcel Khalifé taught at the Beirut National Conservatory of Music, public Universities and other local private music institutions. During that same period, he toured the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the United States giving solo performances on the Oud.

Oud playing was traditionally constrained by the strict techniques that governed its playing. Highly talented and skillful musicians such as Marcel Khalifé were, however, able to free the instrument from those constraints and thus greatly expanding its possibilities.

In 1972, Marcel Khalifé created a musical group in his native village, Amchit, with the goal of reviving its musical heritage and the Arabic chorale. The first performances took place in Lebanon. 1976 saw the birth of Marcel Khalifé’s Al Mayadine Ensemble. Enriched by the previous ensemble’s musical experiences, Al Mayadine’s notoriety went well beyond Lebanon. Accompanied by his musical ensemble, Marcel Khalifé began a lifelong far-reaching musical journey, performing in Arab countries, Europe, the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, and Japan.

Marcel Khalifé has been invited several times to festivals of international fame such as: Baalbeck, Beit Eddine(Lebanon), Carthage, El Hammamat (Tunisia), Timgad (Algeria), Jarash (Jordan), Arles (France), Krems, Linz (Austria), Bremen (Germany), Re Orient (Sweden), Pavia (Italy), World Music Festival in San Francisco, New York, Cleveland (USA), Wellington Music Festival (New Zealand) and the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco.

He has performed in such prestigious halls as the “Palace of Arts” in Montreal, “Symphony Space” and “Merkin Concert” in New York, “Berklee Theatre” and “New England Conservatory” in Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, “Royal Festival Hall”, and “Queen Elizabeth Hall” in London, “UNESCO Palace” of Beirut, Cairo Opera House (Egypt), “Reciprocity”, “House of the Cultures of the World” and “UNESCO Hall” in Paris, “Central Dionysia” in Rome, “Yerba Buena” in San Francisco, “Sodra Teatern” in Stockholm, “Bozar” in Brussels, Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Berlin, “Detroit Symphony Hall” in Detroit, “Sydney Opera House”, “The Arts Centre” in Melbourne, Australia, “The Champs Elysees Theater” in Paris and the “Teatro Alla Scalla Milano” in Italy.

He has also composed several purely instrumental works like The Symphony of Return, Sharq, Concerto Al Andalus- Suite for Oud and Orchestra, Mouda’aba (Caress), Diwan Al Oud, Jadal Oud duo, Oud Quartet, Al Samaa in the traditional Arabic forms and Taqasim, duo for oud and double bass which was awarded the Grand prize of the prestigious Charles Cros Academy in France in November 2007. One of his recent works, Sharq, a choral symphonic composition was performed by the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Piacenza Choir. His latest work, “Arabian Concerto”, premiered at the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra inaugural concert and was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Champs Elysees Theater in Paris.

Marcel Khalifé’s compositions have been performed by several orchestras, notably the Kiev Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Boulogne Billancourt Orchestra, The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the city of Tunis, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and the “Absolute Ensemble”.

Since 1982, Marcel Khalifé has been writing books on music that reflect his avant garde compositions and the maturity of his experience. He published Al Samaa, a collection of compositions for various traditional Arab musical instruments (1981), a six part methodology for the study of the Oud (1982), and Arabic Music-Theory and Practice (French Edition, 1984), Jadal oud Duo (1996), OUD (1997), Andalusian Suite for oud and Orchestra (2002).

His challenges, however, are not only musical in character. Interpreter of music and Oud performer, he is also a composer who is deeply attached to the text on which he relies. In his association with great contemporary Arab poets, particularly Palestinian poet par excellence, Mahmoud Darwish, he seeks to renew the character of the Arabic song, to break its stereotypes, and to advance the culture of the society that surrounds it.

Marcel Khalifé’s lyrical and instrumental recordings add up to more than 20 albums and DVDs, Promises of the storm (1976), Rain Songs (1977), Where from, do I Enter the Homeland? (1978), Weddings (1979), At the Borders (1979), Stripped Bare (1980), Happiness (1981), The Bridge (1983), Collections – 3 Albums (1984), Dreamy Sunrise (1984), Ahmad Al Arabi (1984), Peace Be With you (1989), Ode To A Homeland (1990), Arabic Coffeepot (1995), Jadal Oud Duo (1996), Magic Carpet (1998), Concerto Al Andalus (2002), Caress (2004), Voyageur DVD (2004), Taqasim (2007), Sharq CD & DVD (2007).

Since 1974, Marcel Khalifé has been composing music for dance which gave rise to a new genre of dance, the popular Near Eastern ballet (Caracalla, Sarab Ensemble, Rimah, and Popular Art Ensemble). His compositions for dance include The Marvels of the Prodigy (1974), The Black Tents (1978), A shot of Glory (1980), The Taming of the Shrew (1981), Echoes (1981), Summer Night’s Dream (1992), Alissar, Queen Of Carthage (1997) and Andalusia (2000).

Marcel Khalifé has also been composing soundracks for film documentaries produced by Maroun Baghdadi like Kamal Jumblatt (1976), The Martyr (1977), All for the Homeland (1978), Whispers (1979), and Maarouf Saad (1979) by Samir Zaki. He also scored music for fiction film The Half meter Incident (1981) and The Box of the World (2003) by Ousama Mohammad. His published music has also been used in Hollywood produced films like East West (2006) and Rendition (2007) and also used in independently produced films like Driving to ZigZigland (2006) by Nicole Ballivian and Me, the Other (2006) by Mohsen Melliti.

Marcel Khalifé’s works has been critically acclaimed both in the Arab World and worldwide. His creativity, innovations and his educational and humanitarian concerns and contributions to the promotion of arts and Culture in the Arab world has earned him tens of awards in the Arab World and Internationally. Upon his receipt of the National Palestine Medal for Arts and Culture in 2001, Khalifé contributed the financial part of the Award to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine. The Conservatory has since established in his name an annual music competition under the title of The Marcel Khalifé National Music Competition grants young gifted musicians financial support for their continued music education. Following are some of the awards and recognition that Marcel Khalifé has received throughout the years.

1- The Intellectual Merit and Achievement Medal – Fez, Morocco 2008
2- Charles Cros Award (World Music category) – Paris, France 2008.
3- World Lebanese Cultural Union Medal- Beirut, Lebanon 2008
4- Cultural Movement Award- Antelias, Lebanon 2008.
5- Freemuse Ambassador- Copenhagen, Denmark 2007
6- UNESCO Artist For Peace- Paris, France 2005
7- The Lebanese Cedar Medal- Presidential Award, Lebanon 2005.
8- The National Palestine Medal- Palestine, 2001.
9- Algerian Ministry of Youth Award- Algiers, Algeria 1984
10- South Lebanon Cultural Council- Lebanon 1984
11- Arab American University Graduates- USA 1982
12- Arab American Community Center for Social and Economic Services (ACCESS) Dearborn, USA 1982.
13- Lebanese Ministry of Tourism- Beirut, Lebanon 1981
14- The Jerusalem Medal- Beirut, Lebanon 1981
15- The Cultural Achievement Award- Tunis, Tunisia 1980
16- The American Folkloric Festival Award- USA 1975
17- The Arab Music Foundation Award- Tunis, Tunisia 1974 .

Official website: www.marcelkhalife.com

Follow Marcel Khalife on Twitter

BEIRUT: Lebanon successfully made three entries in the Guinness Book of Records over the weekend for the largest plate and the largest plates of hummus and tabbouleh. The “Hummus and Tabbouleh are 100 percent Lebanese” festival took place on Saturday and Sunday at Saifi Market in Downtown Beirut. Thousands attended the two-day event marking Lebanon’s attempt to claim the two dishes.
The dishes were prepared un der the watch of Guinness adjudicator Tallal Omar by 250 sous chefs from the Kafaat catering school. The 50 chefs were led by the famous Lebanese chef and culinary figure Ramzi Choueiri.
The first attempt for the largest hummus dish reached an incredible 2056 kilograms, shattering the previous record of 362.8 kilograms set in New York in 2006. The tabbouleh dish weighed in at an even more astonishing 3557 kilograms, which surpasses Israel’s previous record of 2359 kilograms.
Both dishes were prepared in the world’s largest plate designed by Lebanese engineer Joseph Kabalan which was designed to hold over 3 tons.
The event was organized by the International Fairs and Promotions group (IFP), along with the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) and the Industry Minister Ghazi Zaiter.
The event was held to affirm the origins of the dishes after the ALI’s claim that the specialties are sold internationally as Greek or Israeli dishes, undermining the cultural originality of the dishes and causing huge losses for the Lebanese economy.
At the event, Ghazi Koraytem, president of the Syndicate of Lebanese Food Industries called for the international recognition and registration of the dishes as being Lebanese in origin.
The festival, which attracted thousands of people to Saifi Market, was set up to include many stalls from Lebanese caterers and artisans. Famous presenter Michel Azzi acted as the master of ceremonies for the event, keeping the crowd lively and amused throughout the various stages of the record attempts.
At the event Azzi said: “We wish that the Lebanese could share this sense of unity all the time in all endeavors.”
At times the security struggled to keep the enthusiastic audience back away from the giant dishes. Mona, from Beirut, said: “This is an important issue to the Lebanese. If Israel attempts to break the record again, we will keep breaking it and prove that these dishes are Lebanese.”
The ALI has claimed their case is similar to the European Union court ruling in 2002 that ruled feta cheese to be Greek.
Geographical appellation rights exist for sparkling wine from the French Champagne region and Scotch whisky, and according to ALI, Lebanon should be able to patent hummus and tabbouleh dishes.

JEDDAH: The prosecutor in the case of a woman journalist who was handed 60 lashes for her role in an LBC program covering the sex exploits of a Saudi man has appealed the ruling and called for a harsher punishment.

Suleiman Al-Jumaei, lawyer for sex braggart Mazen Abdul Jawad, said the prosecutor appealed the sentence handed to LBC media person R.A., one of seven accused in the case.

“The public prosecutor challenged the punishment of 60 lashes saying it was too light and not in sync with her role as a coordinator and the one who prepared and advertised the program,” said Al-Jumaei.

“The verdict, however, is only at its primary stage. It will not be executed without the approval of the appeals court. The court may either uphold or revoke it,” he added.

He also expressed his worry at how slowly the Disputes Committee for Publications is dealing with Abdul Jawad’s complaint against the LBC. The complaint was submitted three months ago to the committee, which operates under the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Abdul Jawad claims that the LBC edited and re-contextualized a long video shoot into a short segment to present him in the worst possible light.

“LBC has violated printing and publications regulations by portraying Abdul Jawad in a bad manner, particularly as it goes against the religious values and traditions of Saudi Arabia. It was the channel that violated these values first when it filmed the segment. The channel also violated Saudi law by operating from an unlicensed Jeddah office,” he said.

He added that if the Disputes Committee for Publications does not carry out its job properly then his client has the right to sue the Ministry of Culture and Information for damages.

“When the committee’s decision comes, I will study it and pursue the channel anywhere in the world if it is in the interests of my client,” he said. The lawyer has also submitted an additional petition to the committee urging it to pass judgment quickly.

The Ministry of Culture and Information says it has forwarded Abdul Jawad’s complaint to the Disputes Committee for Publications, which would only examine whether there are violations of regulations pertaining to printing and publication.

Arab News failed to get any comment on the matter from the channel’s office. Malik Maktabi, the host of “Bold Red Line,” said in an earlier statement that he was not authorized to comment on the case.

Save the «man in the cube», who chose to be held within 3 days what will future generations can afford: in addition to Snoop pedestrians on the sidewalk Achrafieh who received volunteer Rami Eid, will bear the last rise in water level, high temperature, scarcity of water and food for the world to know the effects of climate change, in the Association by «Indy ACT» expose the Arab position which impedes the Copenhagen negotiations
Bassam Kantar
Since eight in the morning, he chose activist and playwright Lebanese Rami Eid (24 years), to voluntarily enter into a transparent cube 2X2 square meters, placed on the pavement of Achrafieh in Beirut. Rami knows that the task chosen to implement the Commonwealth of independent activists «Indy ACT» difficult, if not almost impossible.
Rami was the title of «men in the cube», which will live for 3 days, began yesterday morning, and ending the tenth on Sunday morning. Rami testing, during this period, the various impacts of climate change, where Sikabd a bitter struggle with rising temperatures and shortages of food and water, rising sea levels, threatening the sinking of the entire cube where he lives.
And consider «Indy ACT» to this activity that represents the «excessive realism» what will be the future of humanity, if the global warming.
Expect responsible media «Indy ACT» gift Farhat, this activity is to attract the attention of the public and the media because it «a unique and innovative». It adds to «News»: «in the past, many of our activities on climate change, but this issue is still far from the attention of Arab public opinion. To the extent that some story of a man plunge into a cube, fictional, but they already represent the case of symbolic of what could be the future of humanity after years. Our message from Beirut says that we still have a little time remains to avoid becoming the story «The last man in the cube» reality.
Indicate that the selection of Farhat Rami Eid to do the job came after the announcement «Indy ACT» via «Facebook», and set strict conditions for participation, in particular the full commitment of the living conditions inside the cube. And draw the Farhat that provide many of the activists to carry out this role, including girls Abidin their willingness to carry out this task. She adds: «already chosen one of the girls, but declined later, and after Eid Rami expressed its full commitment to, ruled out other candidates. In response to a question: Farhat recognized that the choice of a girl swimming gown to perform the task, he would draw more attention, but not to the issue of climate change. It adds that the ability to survive for a long key, in addition to a sense of culture and environmentalists, and these qualities met in Rami.
It contains the transparent cube, made locally, on a chair and table, television and put them a PC and an Internet connection and an electric fan, also provided food and water. However, this does not mean that all of these tools will remain available for the scope of the cube, when noon spare volunteer guarding the cube for fear of intrusion passing electric current, which led to the breakdown of the fan, and thus is on the Rami looking for a way to adjust it with high temperature in the absence of ventilation. But at night, no one knows!
Rami chose to transcribe notes within three days of the cube through the Internet. Refuses to talk directly to people, but contacts are friends through his cell phone. Rami writes on the special page on the site «twitter» http://twitter.com/Man_In_The_Cube short comments, and interact with those who write to him and ask him how he felt after long hours of sitting in a cube and exposure to sunlight Achrafieh not overshadowed by yesterday, although no cloud the passage of nearly a month early autumn.
And comments by: «I will now read the book« Life of Pi »the author Yan Martel, and I invite you all to read. Later he wrote: «show high insect people to know what’s going on here and why I sit in this cube and I am a fan backlash of their actions, even though I do not speak directly with them».
In addition to «twitter», Rami chose to write lengthy notes on the blog site set up by the «Word Press» http://themaninthecube.wordpress.com. At two in the afternoon Rami wrote in his blog: «It has been 6 hours. All I can say that the weather is hot and humid here too. Cube began sinking, and the water will rise shortly. There is little food and water, and I’m trying to adapt to it ».
When the fifth night, the water has inundated more than half a meter of the cube, and this morning, if all goes well, will begin a new phase Rami within the cube, representing the residents of the land who are exposed to floods resulting from sudden and severe hurricanes, likewise try to save purposes and the rest of the precious food in their homes, but the difference is that Rami will not be able to leave the cubic, as do thousands of refugees Almnakhien, especially in the areas of the Far East, Valmkaab is Earth, but will also be in the event of disaster.
In turn, indicates the Executive Director for «Indy ACT» Wael Hmeidan that this event is part of the path of Mosul campaign «350.org», which will culminate on 24 this month «Global Day of Action against climate change». Organized during this day, thousands of activities, and coordinate «Indy ACT» these activities in our region, to encourage Governments to participate actively in the negotiations, the Copenhagen Summit.
This summit is one of the last opportunities to save the Earth from the effects of climate change. Humaidan just return from a tour of the negotiations that took place in Bangkok last week, he expressed dismay at the position of Saudi Arabia during the negotiations. He points out that the Saudi delegation holed behind the G-77, which calls for shared responsibility, but differentiated responsibilities, between the industrialized and developing countries, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Humaidan adds: «in Bangkok and in all previous rounds remaining oil trade, the only reason for the enthusiasm of Saudi Arabia, which does not seem interested in what happens to the population of Arab countries in the event of continuing climate change».