Behind the Scenes: Alternative Music in Beirut | Fadi Tabbal

Fadi Tabbal is a hidden giant of Beirut's alternative music scene. He joins us in our studio in Beirut to talk about the music he's produced over the years, the independent musicians on the rise, and the work that his studio – Tunefork Studios – is doing. He compares the music scenes in Beirut, Cairo and Dubai, and explains how there are no records or archives of the alternative music that came before the last decade. He takes us on a journey through the 70s to the 2000s and 2010s, talks about music in the internet age, and tells us how Red Bull shaped the music scene in Lebanon for a period of time.

0:00 Introduction
1:22 Fadi's Music Career So Far
9:33 Interlude 1: Scrambled Eggs
14:50 Early 2000s Beirut Music Scene
20:11 The Arab World's Music Scene
33:54 Music in the 2010s and Into the Internet Age
45:11 The Pop Music Problem & Western Music Standards
52:15 70s and 80s Music From Lebanon
55:55 Heavy Metal in Lebanon
58:50 Tunefork Studios
1:00:00 Desert Island Discs: Arab World

Fadi Tabbal is a Lebanese musician, producer and sound engineer often referred to as "the hardest-working man in Lebanon's alternative music scene." He established Tunefork Studios in 2006 and has produced and recorded some of the most renowned Lebanese and international acts in the contemporary music scene in Lebanon today.

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[elieelkhoury]

Brilliant conversation. Fadi is the goat! Thanks a lot

[afikra]

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:22 Fadi's Music Career So Far
9:33 Interlude 1: Scrambled Eggs
14:50 Early 2000s Beirut Music Scene
20:11 The Arab World's Music Scene
33:54 Music in the 2010s and Into the Internet Age
45:11 The Pop Music Problem & Western Music Standards
52:15 70s and 80s Music From Lebanon
55:55 Heavy Metal in Lebanon
58:50 Tunefork Studios
1:00:00 Desert Island Discs: Arab World

[maximmokdad]

I vividly recall "rock" music being banned for a while in 1995 - when I was 17 - after a number of teenage suicides in IC and a few other schools. Instead of looking into the likely mental health issues underpinning these tragic cases - particularly in a generation born and raised in war - the authorities joined the dots and deduced the real culprit was their rock music fandom. I particularly remember them mentioning that Nirvana records where found in the victims’ bedrooms, as if they were some occult artefacts (and not some of the biggest selling records of the time). For the next few months, "rock" magazines where pulled off the shelves and "rock music" sections in record shops covered up with paper and off-limits. Naturally, it only made buying the records feel even more illicit and thrilling for a teenager!

[andreaspapas]

Hey, great conversation! Link to connect with Fadi in the description is wrong, links to Kareem Roustom’s page (that conversation was also really nice)