Mashrou Leila: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
June 24, 2016 by ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS When we invited the band Mashrou Leila to come play at the Tiny Desk, we couldn t have foreseen the timing. The group arrived at our office the morning after the horrific June 12 shootings in Orlando at the gay nightclub Pulse. We were all collectively reeling from the news, and for this rock band from Beirut, Lebanon, the attack hung very heavily. Mashrou Leila is fronted by singer and lyricist Hamed Sinno, along with violinist Haig Papazian, keyboardist and guitarist Firas Abou Fakher, Ibrahim Badr on bass and drummer Carl Gerges: five young Beirutis whose family backgrounds reflect Lebanon s religious diversity. Sinno is openly gay, and Mashrou Leila is well acquainted with the targeting of LGBT people. The band has faced condemnation, bans and threats in its home region, including some from both Christian and Muslim sources, for what it calls our political and religious beliefs and endorsement of gender equality and sexual And yet, when Mashrou Leil
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