BEIRUT: Beirut is attempting to reclaim its status as the “international book capital” this year at the 52nd Beirut Book Fair, and is taking special aim at younger readers. Organizers of the book fair are pleased that more than 210 exhibitors are taking part in this year’s edition following a two-year hiatus due to political and security tensions in the country. The participation rate is up by some 20 percent compared to the last edition of the event, and 192 private and 18 government exhibitors are on hand from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Oman and Lebanon.

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Photos capturing a fantastic global hip-hop concert in Montreal on Sunday, November 2nd, co-presented by the Festival du Monde Arabe and Tadamon!, featuring Aks’ser (Arabic for ‘against the traffic’) a Lebanese hip-hop duo from Beirut and the international rhythms from Nomadic Massive from Montreal. Upwards of two-hundred people attended the concert at La Sala Rossa, bringing together people for an evening featuring hip-hop expressions from Montreal to the Middle East rooted in conscience expression and social justice.

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«Nos chansons représentent le côté violent, le côté guerre de ce que l’on vit. On a besoin de montrer une autre image du monde arabe», disait Rayess Bek à la foule rassemblée au Medley mercredi soir lors du concert d’ouverture du Festival du monde arabe (FMA). Le rappeur reviendra dimanche soir avec Iben Foulen, son complice au sein d’AKs’ser, pour partager la scène de la Sala Rossa avec les Montréalais de Nomadic Massive.

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SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2nd
20h00. 17$
La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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MONDAY OCTOBER 27th 7h30.
Concordia University
room H-110. 1455 de maisonneuve
metro Guy-Concordia

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Artists Against Apartheid in Montreal captured in photo and video, an incredible cultural event which united many celebrated artists as part of the global campaign against Israeli apartheid through an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions on the Israeli government.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 7:30pm, 2008
(rain-date, same time Sunday)
in the lot beside l’Insoumise
2035 St-Laurent. between Ontario and Sherbrooke
metro St-Laurent
free, but donation encouraged

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Photo: Beirut by Piax. Tadamon! special edition: entire program is on-line for download.

A special edition produced by Mostafa Henaway, featuring music that spans different eras and moments in Middle East history, music composed and performed during the moments of social and political transformation. Music from the Middle East that either directly or indirectly is a reflection of these critical historical moments, from Egypt with music from the 1950’s and 1960’s that is a celebration of a new era, independent of colonialism, or more contemporary songs that present a critique dictatorship and tyranny in Egypt in the 1970’s song by Sheikh Imam.

Music from Lebanon, compositions and artists that emerged in the context of over twenty years of Israeli occupation and fifteen-years of civil-war in the country. Music from Lebanon that reflects a will of people to not be divided by sectarian politics, expressed by artists such as Ziad Rahbani in the famous song Ana Mesh Kafer, a song which asks how people of different religious faiths can condemn each other.

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Beirut: [Yet another] blackout has descended upon Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp this night. It makes your efforts to find the Palestinian Arab Center that much more atmospheric and inspires vague hopes that perhaps you won’t miss the first minutes of Jackie Salloum’s “Slingshot Hip Hop” after all.

You find the hall’s exterior bathed in generator-driven light. The interior is dim but for the concert footage projected on a screen and reflected back upon the white plastic chair-mounted eyeballs fixed before it.

Salloum’s first feature-length film, “Slingshot” chronicles the rise of the Palestinian hip-hop scene – starting in ’48 Palestine (sometimes called “Israel”) and the other occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

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Bridges to Bil’in: performances, presentations and visuals against Israeli apartheid.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th, 2008
8pm. 5-10$
La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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