Stoking the exuberance that has swept through Beirut's newly-liberated city center, the likes of Haifa Wehbe - who induced many in the crowd to collapse in near-ecstasy during her trademark leave-little-to-the-imagination routine - Nawal el Zoghbi, Nancy Ajram and the bright young things from Star Academy have all added their voices to the heightened party-atmosphere currently rippling through the city.
The festivities flourished on Sunday night as the grand dame of Lebanese pop took to the Martyrs' Square stage. Over an hour before Majida el Roumi graced the hallowed platform, hundreds of expectant fans milled around the Martyrs' monument, filling the Beirut night with a festive air Centre Ville has not played host to for almost two years.
Banks of sullen soldiers stared on as groups of boisterous teenagers threw each other into the air and families and the Beirut glitterati wandered through the bristling atmosphere in anticipation of the performance to come.
Majdia, of course, was fashionably late, but the delay only left the crowd to whip itself into a frenzy and by the time she strode onto the stage, the excitement was palpable.
The lavish production hinted at Majida's place among the greatest of Lebanese singers, a pedestal she has sat comfortably on for over thirty years. The orchestra and choir, all clad in pristine white, emanated a near-ethereal glow, reflecting the near-saintly reverence she induces wherever she performs.
The Lebanese are surely the masters of unabashed, high-showbiz, and Sunday night's free show did little to diminish its illustrious reputation. And so the orchestra struck the first strains of what became a whistle stop tour of Majida's greatest hits. Her voice is still exquisite; it melds the strains of high-opera with the twists and turns of Oriental singing effortlessly.
Kief and Bhebak enta w rai showed her at her best, as a master of long, complex songs, demonstrating her vocal range in its glittering supremity. She doesn't miss a note, as they tumble and fall in quick succession and soar back up again, she proves what an accomplished musician she is. She belts out long, persistent notes as easily as many of us tie our shoelaces. Some of her songs' sustained concluding notes pierce the night sky, as the roar of the crowd washes over the music, only to keep on going once the cacophonous crowd subsides. She is an excellent live performer, in complete control of her voice and her music and able to reign in a crowd when it seems determined to drown her out.
Persistent shouts of 'Ya Beirut! Ya Beirut!' peppered the show and when she sang it towards the end of the night, not a person watching wasn't singing along. She also knows how to stir a crowd and she had Sunday night's revelers in the palm of her hand.
The supporting cast of orchestra and choir was superb and made Majida's much cherished recordings sparkle in a new light. The production was a classy affair, responding to the current climate but ultimately not wavering from its purpose in providing a top class slice of entertainment.
And Majida, the stalwart of Lebanon and its music, knows how to pitch a show, and she sprinkled her two-and-a-half hour-long set with various slices of political statement woven through with the golden strands of showbiz; from her dislike of war to her wish that all prisons in Lebanon be abolished for the sake of the liberty of her people. Wiping a tear from her eye, she called for a minute's silence for the martyrs, before soldiering on through her back-catalogue as the mascara streamed down one side of her face. She was the stateswoman, gushing with glossy, heartfelt statements that tapped into a set of packagable sentiments that abound so freely in times like these. The emotional stakes were high, and el Roumi heightened the heady mix of palatable politics and popular music with a classy flair. If anyone was searching for an answer to the question do pop and politics mix, here it was on a silver platter.
The host of dabke dancers that joined her at the end of the show was a fitting climax, rooting Majida and her performance firmly away from the cloying glitz that so often accompanies the great and the good of the world of popular music. As rice and sweets cascaded through the air from the elder women in the group and two senior men whirled around the stage with their younger counterparts swirling swords and canes above their heads, Majida gracefully stood her ground and the crowd reached the peak of its frenzy.
This was the jewel in the crown of the celebration concerts of the past week and cemented el Roumi's place as one of Lebanon's greatest performers. Let's just hope that the sumptuous feast of celebrity and glamor doesn't turn out to be a metaphor for what lays in wait for the country at large. That is that when the crowds have gone home, the star has left the stage, and the shimmer of euphoria has faded from the sky, the climate doesn't return to its simmering, and dangerous, normality.
Watch Majida El Roumi Videos on Ya Libnan TV
Tags: Celebration, Concert, Downtown Beirut, Festival, Majida El Roumi, Michel Suleiman, source: Ya Libnan
