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Music of Lebanon
Maqam-based art music, Turkish makam and aşık bards, Persian dastgah and radif, Arabic tarab, Sufi zikr, Kurdish dengbêj and Yemeni oud song.
Sung and searched in Arabic. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.
Roots and traditions
Traditional music in Lebanon
Traditional Lebanese music shares influences with nearby countries including Syria and Egypt. Beirut music also features similarities with Bedouin tradition as well as folk music from Lebanon’s more rural regions. The capital's secular music was heavily shaped by the Ottomans and music guilds offering some form of protection to artists despite Lebanese society's view of them coming from a lower status. Lebanese folk music features Aramaean, Byzantine and later Islamic styles of music found across the Levant, with significant religious influences. Key features include poetic and rhythmic tunes that have a typically unison melody sung solo or with a group. Zajal poetry is considered one of the most well-known forms of traditional music in Lebanon as well as other styles like ma'anna, a part of the melismatic and syllabic music type, and qarrâdi known for its charming village feel. These music styles are often paired with dabke and feature a range of popular instruments in Lebanon.
Popular music
Influence of international popular music in Lebanon
Rock is very popular in Lebanon and during the Lebanese Civil War, Ziad Rahbani, a Lebanese composer (and Fairuz's son) worked with different types of music groups in Beirut including rock, jazz and funk. Rock was a popular genre of music played by radio stations in Beirut, with The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Kinks being especially popular at the time. Local rock bands were also created such as The Force, which performed despite political tension. The underground music scene became vibrant in Lebanon after the end of the civil war in 1990, spearheaded by the rock-pop duo Zeid Hamdan and Yasmine Hamdan who together were known as Soap Kills. This duo was considered revolutionary for their time as they used grooveboxes, synthesisers and vocals in their pieces while blending Western and Arab influences. In 2011, Lebanese rock band The Kordz released their debut album Beauty and the East.
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Live radio
Radio from Lebanon
Music only, no news or talk. Stations that play the local tradition come first, then the most listened. They play in the corner of the page.
Station directory by Radio Browser Streams come from each station's own server.