Beirut Holidays brings Majida al-Roumi back to her city
Beirut will be in a festive mood throughout July. This is the promise displayed by the vibrant poster of the Beirut Holidays festival, which prides itself on being the only music festival bearing the name of the Lebanese capital. For its 10th edition, unveiled on Tuesday, the festival aims to be "friendly" at all levels, from parking to the press area, offering a lineup accessible to the general public, both Arabic and English speakers, similar to previous years. This edition is also marked by the return of familiar faces to the festival (Elissa is always game!), but most notably, it marks the grand return of Majida al-Roumi, 15 years after her last concert in Beirut. It is sure to delight locals, expatriates and tourists, especially those coming from Arab countries who constitute a loyal audience for the festival organized by...
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Nahar Net
5 days ago
- Nahar Net
Irish rapper in court on terror charge over Hezbollah flag
by Naharnet Newsdesk 18 June 2025, 13:09 Hundreds of people gathered outside a London court Wednesday in a show of support for the provocative Irish rap group Kneecap as one of the singers appeared charged with a terror offense for allegedly promoting Lebanon's Hezbollah. Liam O'Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November. He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf around his neck, and black sunglasses. Shouts of "Free Palestine" rang out among the crowd outside, as well as from people who were inside the court building. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK, and it is an offense to show support for them. Kneecap, which has recently grabbed headlines for statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel, has denied the charge. "We deny this 'offense' and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction," the Belfast band wrote on X last month. The raucous punk-rap group has said the video that led to the charge was taken out of context. O'Hanna told London's Wide Awake Festival in May that the charge was an attempt to "silence us" after several of their performances were canceled. A performance in Scotland was pulled over safety concerns, various shows in Germany were axed, and UK government ministers had suggested the organizers of the upcoming Glastonbury festival should reconsider their appearance. Daring provocateurs to their fans, dangerous extremists to their detractors, the group's members rap in the Irish language as well as English. Formed in 2017, the group is no stranger to controversy. Their lyrics are filled with references to drugs, they have repeatedly clashed with the UK's previous Conservative government and have vocally opposed British rule in Northern Ireland. Last year, the group was catapulted to international fame by a semi-fictional film based on them that scooped multiple awards including at the Sundance festival. - 'Unfazed' - O'Hanna, Liam Og O Hannaidh in Gaelic, was charged last month after London's Metropolitan Police investigated a video from the festival in Kentish Town, north London, in November 2024. He is accused of displaying a flag "in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organization," police said. One of the supporters outside the court on Wednesday, who gave her name as Sadia, denounced the charge as "ridiculous". "Kneecap actually represent every one of us. They speak for us, you know, because everything they feel, every injustice that they feel, we feel," she told AFP. The group however apologized this year after a 2023 video emerged appearing to show one singer calling for the death of British Conservative MPs. Rich Peppiatt, who directed the award-winning semi-autobiographical film about Kneecap, told AFP this week that the group was "unfazed" by the legal charge and controversies. "Even through all the controversy at the moment, they just shrug their shoulders and get on with it," Peppiatt said. "They've always been controversial at a local level, and they've always bounced back from it," he added. In its statement following the charge, the group said: "14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us." "We are not the story. Genocide is," it added. Israel has repeatedly denied that it is committing genocide in its offensive in Gaza, which it says aims to wipe out Hamas. Prominent British musicians and groups including Paul Weller, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Pulp and Primal Scream have defended the group and denounced a "concerted attempt to censor and de-platform Kneecap".
Nahar Net
13-06-2025
- Nahar Net
Dua Lipa confirms long-speculated engagement to actor Callum Turner
by Naharnet Newsdesk 13 June 2025, 15:32 Dua Lipa has confirmed her engagement to the English actor Callum Turner, months after speculation began. She went on the record about the engagement in a cover story for British Vogue's July issue, published Thursday, calling it "very exciting." The 29-year-old said she was obsessed with the ring Turner had made for her. "It's so me. It's nice to know the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with knows you very well," she told the magazine. Fans had theorized the ring Lipa began sporting in photos at the end of December signaled an engagement, but the pair did not publicly confirm the rumor for months, even after appearing together at last month's Met Gala. Lipa says they haven't set wedding plans yet — she's still on tour and Turner is filming, "so we're just enjoying this period," she told British Vogue, adding that they try not to spend more than 2 ½ weeks apart. Images of Lipa and Turner, 35, together began surfacing in January 2024. She told British Vogue that they had initially met at a London restaurant, before reconnecting during a dinner in L.A., where they learned they were both reading the same book: Hernan Diaz's "Trust," a Pulitzer Prize winner. (Lipa runs the influential Service95 Book Club.) The London-born, British Albanian powerhouse is credited with revitalizing a kind of energetic disco-pop sound in the mainstream, beginning with the release of her 2017 self-titled album and carrying throughout 2020's "Future Nostalgia" and 2024's "Radical Optimism." "Dance music has such a long history of creating such a safe space. And I just want to embody that," she told The Associated Press last year. Across her career, Lipa has won three Grammys and boasts five top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: 2017's "New Rules," 2019's "Don't Start Now," 2020's "Levitating," 2021's "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" with Elton John, and 2023's "Dance the Night," from the star-studded "Barbie" soundtrack. Turner is known for his roles in the "Fantastic Beasts" movies as well as the George Clooney-directed "The Boys in the Boat" and World War ll drama series "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+.
The 961
07-06-2025
- The 961
Lebanese Beer Brands Are Publicly Throwing Shade, And It's Getting Frothy
Summer hasn't even started yet, and things are already heating up among the Lebanese beer brands. Almaza just launched a rosé beer ahead of the season, and they went all in on the promo. You've probably seen their pink-themed banners and ads all over the place. But their longtime rival, Beirut Beer, wasn't having it. In classic Lebanese clapback fashion, Beirut Beer fired back with their own banners saying across Almaza's: 'Instead of coloring it rose, we kept the beer original.' And they didn't stop there. One banner was put up right in front of Almaza's own brewery in Dora. Petty? A little. Entertaining? Absolutely. Fans of both brands are already picking sides online, with some praising Almaza for trying something new, while others are loving Beirut Beer's bold move to keep things classic (and throw some shade while at it). One thing's for sure – the drama is brewing, and we're totally here for it.
