Sectarianism in Lebanon must end

Marwan Khoury Beirut – Nicola Azar   Marwan Khoury exclusively told Arabstoday that he is in fact in some disagreement with artist Elissa like some newspapers suggested. However, he said that those papers exaggerated the news, as although his and Elissa’s relationship has some ‘tension,’ everything now is back to normal and he is even releasing a song that is ‘suited for her.’ The artist said that he is happy with the success his duet “Bashak Rouhak” with Elain Lahoud received. This was their first ever collaboration together. Khoury said that Elain enjoys a special musical background; he said: “I love her mother’s voice – Salwa Al Qatreeb, and very much respect Romeo Lahoud, her uncle, and Elain has a beautiful voice and a clear presence. It’s true that she is not popular in the Arab world, but she is highly respected in Lebanon.” As for the album released by Warda Al-Jazairia titled “Boredom,” which is a song written and composed by Khoury, he stressed that “the collaboration took a long time to take place as Warda lives in Egypt, which required him to travel there several times to make sure their work is running smoothly.” He explained that he was waiting for productions matters to end with Rotana, and he said: “I was busy with a number of new songs and was surprised to find out that the song I wrote is the title of her album, which will also be filmed as a video clip.” And on being accused of being arrogant by some of his colleagues, especially when he used to refuse to provide a certain artist with a poem or music, Khoury said: “those people tried to criticize me through my personal life and that was upsetting.” Khoury said that he prefers not to listen to such gossip, pointing out that “some find it easy to speak either on TV, radio or a magazine to respond to or deny a rumor; it makes them feel as if they have the authority to say whatever they like, but that’s a delusion, as an artist must respect the listener, reader and viewer in all circumstances, and that’s what makes a successful artist.” The artist believes that Lebanese society is controlled by ‘showing off’ and that he personally prefers to stay away from that scene as ‘the entertainment world is full of lies.’ Regarding the topic of Arab revolutions and what is taking place right now, especially that Khoury is highly interested in political issues, he said: “a Lebanese person talks politics by nature as the conditions they’ve lived through are built on politics, so it is like science or sports or healthy food for them. It’s important for citizens to be aware of political issues to know what’s right from wrong.” The artist said that he is on people’s side in deciding their own fate. As for the campaigns which called for the fall of the sectarian system in Lebanon, especially that Marwan previously called for the end of it he reaffirmed that his opinion still stands saying: “this is my own belief and I am really excited for those campaigns and love taking part in them.” The star said that he wishes that a Lebanese citizen would become more important than which sect he belongs to. Khoury is also collaborating with Melissa, but he denied that he is only doing so to ‘please her,’ pointing out that her manager Jean Saliba and Melissa insisted on a collaboration together and he ‘does not like to disappoint an artist’ if he felt that they are keen on working with him. He added that he has been somewhat absent from the concerts scene in Lebanon, which he finds strange and is unaware of its reasons, saying that “unfortunately when I hit stardom I was not in Lebanon, and some of those concert organisers in Lebanon control that scene and don’t bother organising a concert especially for me, as they hold these concerts for certain names, but I won’t run after them to host me a concert.” Khoury’s last relationship has recently ended and he revealed that the relationship was set up by friends who were hoping it would end up in marriage, saying jokingly that he has ‘disappointed them’ but that he is now looking for stability in his life more than he was before.