On a slightly lighter note...

My main focus on this blog will be Arab music and musicians and how they contribute to counter-hegemonic ideologies. Music plays a big role in my life and I'm excited that it relates so well to this class and this project. I hope you enjoy my first post!

One Arab artist that I have been listening to for a few years now is "Massari". I only recently learned (from his website: http://www.forevermassari.com/) that his real name is Sari Abboud and that he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He currently lives in Canada and is known as "Massari", which means 'money' in Arabic. He hopes that his name will come to mean something more than just monetary wealth; a wealth of opportunities to fulfill goals and dreams. More on that later.

His musical influences include Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and George Wassouf, an Arabic singer. The result is a poppy R&B with even more flavor.

Massari has been using his beautiful voice to bring attention to those in need. He has founded an oranization called "Save the Future" that will work with other nonprofit organizations like World Vision, The Leukemia Walk, The Aids Conference, Cancer Research Foundation, The 30 Hour Famine, and Unicef. His childhood experience with war was one of the reasons he got involved in charity in the first place. "Growing up in a country that was being torn by a civil war has helped me realize that as long as there is a war in this world, there will always be people in need. From a young age, I began taking every opportunity to get involved with a charitable organization".

A quick Google search reveals what Massari is referring to: The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990. There is a lot of information about the war, even a site that gives a very specific timeline of the war. However, there is no explanation for the war. No one seems to know the real reason for the war. All I found was, "the war was fought along both religous as well as political borders". What these religious and political borders are, I'm not sure. There is, however, an article from the Washington Post concerning a "hostage during Lebanon's Civil War". It mentions the head of the American University of Beirut, who was abducted by "pro-Iranian Shiite Muslims". There is no mention of why he was taken hostage or why the University was a target in these attacks.

I kind of got off track there but please check out Massari at the link above.

To listen to George Wassouf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tBNO3kPVUs

Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012703161.html