ALLO BEIRUT! MAYA WAKED AND HER ENSEMBLE / 15E FESTIVAL DU MONDE ARABE DE MONTRÉAL

Musical supervision: John Sawaya Tracy
Conductor: Nicolas Belpaire
Arrangements: John Sawaya Tracy, Arden Arapyan, Katia Makdessi Warren, Nizar Tabcharani

Following the great success of her first concert “Helm Majnoon” (Crazy dream), Lebanese-Canadian singer Maya Waked returns with a new show titled “Allo Beyrouth ?!” to beats blending Oriental influences with pop, jazz and cabaret songs – an original concert where the saxophone and piano meet the qanun and tabla, thrusting us into the enjoyable nostalgia of the Beirut of yesteryear.

The warm, lyrical voice of Maya Waked, accompanied by singers and musicians from Québec and Lebanon, carries us at lightning speed into the heart of Beirut’s frenetic nights, a flashback in 15 compositions revisiting the major moments of Lebanese song, from Feyrouz to Sabah, from Salwa el Katrib to Ziad Rahbani. Each of these songs hides a story, an anecdote or a buried memory for Lebanese expatriates on Canadian soil: a love left behind, a childhood poem, a symbol, a scent, a taste, a dance – 15 moments bearing witness to a diaspora living in the eternal hope of return. Emotion guaranteed!