Nourishing a Homegrown Music Scene

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on March 14, 2018, on page 16.

BEIRUT: Tucked away in the heart of Sioufi, with its warm and inviting glow, is the quirky and intimate venue space, music spot, and café known as Onomatopoeia — The Music Hub. Decorated with upcycled furniture and touches of sentimentality, Onomatopoeia is a multi-purpose setting that charms you with its unique and whimsical character. Here you’ll find creatives of all kinds settled into various envelopments of humanity and creativity. Whether they’re lost in a book, tuning their guitar, or engaged in animated discussions over baguette sandwiches, the crowd is diverse, passionate, and here for an enriching experience. 

Joe Elias, age 37, a self-taught musician and one of the three co-founders of the nonprofit, described his music hub as a place to spread music culture and musicianship. Through the facilitation of jam sessions, music exposure, education and other activities like free musicologist lectures, ciné club meetings, and live performances, Elias’ Onomatopoeia has built an interactive community of artists in a commonly quiet residential neighborhood.When they first started, Elias said they “went and visited [the neighbors] and told them not to worry and that it wasn’t going to be a pub. They got used to the idea and now even a few of them come down.”  

According to Elias, the physical manifestation of Onomatopoeia involved a collective effort of people donating, repurposing, volunteering, and just working together. And as Ontomatopoeia’s success grows, this legacy continues. People continue to give their time and energy to the establishment, even donating instruments to students in need, especially those enrolled in their Music Skills Development Program (MSDP). MSDP is a “tailored program for anyone who wants to learn music”—whether individually or in a group—but emphasizes accessibility, support, and lowering costs as much as possible for students. They do their best to facilitate the continuation of music classes for students as well as try to get special deals and discounts from musical instrument sellers. 

One ensemble that took advantage of Onomatopoeia’s facility was the up-and-coming Lebanese folk-pop band, Waynick. Twenty-two year old Joe Kazan, keyboardist, melodica-player, and one of the singers of the band, shared his feelings about the venue, saying, “I love the idea of this space--a place where people can meet and perform. It gives exposure to new artists and gives them an intimate setting where they can engage with their audience which is important for independent artists.” Joe is childhood friends with second-lead singer, guitar and ukulele player, Sara Abdo, also 22.  Together, along with Cyril Abdo, 21, and Nicholas Tabanji, 22, they took over the Onomatopoeia stage, with a house so full, people were spilling out the door. “We were very shocked by the number of people that showed up, it was huge and not what I expected”, Kazan added. 

 
The friends form a quintet of multi-talented, nuanced musical expression that feels like a manifestation of years-worth of personal development and sound-formation. Kazan states, “Waynick is a project we’ve always dreamed of as kids...Sara and I used to spend our summers playing music together...In our teenage years we felt misunderstood and depressed, our songs would be depressing unlike our songs now--[which are] a mixture [of both happy and sad].” Building off of that, Sara Abdo adds, “our songs [now] can sound happy but have depressing lyrics.” 

With Kazan being a medical student, and Abdo an acting one, practice-time can be hard to come by, often having “late-night rehearsals at the expense of sleep” they claim. It’s clear that the band has dedicated extensive time to their music. After getting started playing as nameless cover-musicians at weddings and in pubs, Waynick has been thoughtfully and successfully blending the acoustic yet sing-songy qualities of folk-pop with a tinge of Middle-Eastern flair and with an EP coming out later this year, their project is gaining serious traction.

On the subject of their name, they described an experience on their first meeting as a band, saying, “we were planning to meet at AUB and Nick, who was supposed to be our drummer, he was gonna meet us there but his phone died and it was his first time getting to AUB, and [with its many gates], he got lost on the way...We didn’t really know Nick back then to know how to identify him so for an hour or so, we were looking for him. [Eventually], it went from “Wayn Nick” to “Waynick.”

“Every artist struggles somehow at some point.” Sara Abdo expressed. Some of Waynick’s other struggles have included “practicing late at night, at the expense of sleep”, having hectic lives outside of Waynick, and trying to get signed at a record label.“It’s challenging singing in English in Lebanon because there isn’t that big of an audience which is rather problematic. They aren’t many record labels who are willing to sign English-singing bands” Kazan elaborated. 

He went on to say, “At the same time...[we live in] a collectivist kind of society, everyone supports everyone and the music scene--everyone knows everyone, everyone tries to help out however they can which is a positive thing about Beirut being that small…[Being Lebanese] is part of our identity...even if [our songs] are in English, the themes are themes that we live in our daily lives in Beirut.” 

Kazan also said “the key is making music you want to listen to.” Their reverberant, harmony-oriented sound captivated listeners and their hit single, “Carolina” had audience members singing along out loud. Kazan talked about how the song is based off of his family’s summertime experiences in South Carolina. “Carolina is like our happy place. You can just escape.”