Forward

Smoking narguileh in a Hamra Café, DJ Lethal Skillz is instantly recognisable. The DJ, producer and renowned turntablist is a well-known ambassador of arabic hip hop, the founder of “hip hop family” 96! Underground, and rarely goes a week without a gig, born in ‘76, he fell in love with hip hop while practicing the moves from classic sos film “Breakin” in his father’s video store after watching Erbie Hancock’s “Rocket” on tv he started DJ-ing at school discos (using cassette tapes, he’s that old school) and has never looked back.

Lebanese singer Elie Rizkallah shares his thoughts on the importance of preserving Lebanon’s musical heritage, before releasing his new CD ‘Shi Mesh Shakhsi’.

Lebanese jazz composer Toufic Farroukh talks about how he came to his new-old sound

One of Lebanon's most significant contributions to the international music landscape (aside from dabkeh, of course) is "Oriental jazz" a clever blend of Western jazz modalities and improvisation conventions with those of the Arabic classical tradition.
One of the pioneers of Lebanon's Oriental jazz, along with Ziad Rahbani and Rabih Abu Khalil, is Toufic Farroukh. That's not to say he's very fond of the term.

Ghazi Abdel Baki, fondateur et président du label Forward Music qui fête cette année son dixième anniversaire, a inauguré hier soir, en plein cœur de Hamra, Democratic Republic of Music (DRM)*, la salle de concerts qu'il ambitionnait d'ouvrir depuis 2006.