DABAKA – Music as a Cultural Bridge
In collaboration with UNHCR, Mejwiz created a project called DABAKA aiming
to bring together Syrian and Lebanese musicians representing a remarkable melting pot from the two countries. DABAKA uses the Levantine folk dance and music of dabkeh as the focal point of the project, hoping to encourage conversa- tion between artists about the role of art in uniting people. 4 musicians ( Rayess Bek, Hello Psychaleppo, Khaled Omran, and Wassim Boul Malham) and a video artist (Joan Baz) worked on original compositions, recorded an album and finally performed a live audio visual concert in front of an audience of over a 1000 people.
On the 18th of December 2018, the concert was held at the Grand Factory. With a 1000 + audience showing up, the event was deemed a remarkable event.
Aside from the artists themselves, over 30 people ( scenographer, Dop, sound engineer, techincal director, graphic designers…) participated in the making of this successful project and made it an unforgettable event.
DABAKA is funded and supported by UNHCR, The UN Refugee agency in collaboration with Red Oak.