Afropop concludes its Hip Deep series on Lebanon with a musical survey of contemporary Beirut. It’s a complex, balkanized world where adventurous art musicians extend the hybrid forms of Lebanon’s golden era, alternative rock bands engage a globalized youth audience, and regional rappers go political while connecting rap with ancient Arabic poetic traditions. We visit the legendary Beiteddine Festival, sample innovative art musicians like Rima Khcheich and Mike Massy, meet rappers and rock bands (The Kordz, Soapkills, El Rass, Mashrou Leila), and get the insights of Arab hip-hop researcher/filmmaker Jackson Allers and ethnomusicologist Thomas Burkhalter, author of a major study of Beirut musicians who grew up during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990).
