Munir Khauli & Friends Live at Hamra Festival 26 June 2010

This video was taken at Mahrajan al-lugha el-arabiyyah on Hamra Street in Beirut which included a live open air event with bands such as Ghazi's, Rayyan el Habre, Tania Saleh and of course the unimitable Munir Khauli. I played guitar in Munir's band. The band backing Munir are the same people who played with me at my Sporting concert on June 22, namely, Abboud Saadi, Mazen Siblini and Emile Boustany.

Munir and I have been working together since our teens. His contribution to my CD was so major that I could not have completed it on my own. Munir has a long history on the local music scene. In 1986, he was the first Lebanese artist to release an album of rock music with Arabic lyrics. Many people tried to do the same thing since but with little success. In 2003, he released a CD called Tannin el Tarab. The list of musicians who played with him on the album reads like a who's who of Lebanon's rock and jazz musicians. It was a true masterpiece which never got the recognition it deserved. It was released on Michel Elefteriades' label Eleph Records but Mr Elefteriades did an awful job in promoting it. Elephteriades had a deal with Music Master (one of the major Arabic music labels) whereby they would manufacture and distribute the album. The album is now impossible to find but about three years ago Music Master still had almost 300 copies in their warehouse. We learned that soon after, those CDs were destroyed or thrown away by the label to make space for newer releases in their warehouses. What a waste! Fortunately, you can listen to all the songs from that album online. Some of the tracks can be heard on Munir's myspace (http://www.myspace.com/mkhauli) and the rest are available for download at Munir's official website (http://www.munirkhauli.net/mkaudio.htm).

Alongside his recording his own music, he has played guitar on almost every CD released by Ziad Rahbani and Fairouz since 1995. Munir is also known for his work in TV jingles, advertising jingles and movie soundtracks. For some video clips and lots of funny stuff visit Munir's youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/munirkhauli). My youtube channel has a lot of Munir stuff as well (http://www.youtube.com/user/lowando).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Munir
• Khauli
• Walid
• Itayim
• Abboud
• Saadi
• Emile
• Boustany
• Mazen
• Siblini
• Arabic
• Rock
• Lebanese
• Lebanon
• Beirut
• Hamra
• street
• festival