In a red-lit bar in Beirut, Nasser Shorbaji and Marwan Alameh try not to knock the microphones over while laughing during the broadcast of their weekly radio show.
Moments later, they turn more sombre as they introduce a segment on Palestinian hip-hop, discussing the war on Gaza. Heads nod in the packed bar to the rhymes of Sati, a Palestinian rapper.
Shorbaji, a Syrian, and Alameh, a Lebanese, are among a host of rappers and graffiti artists who are trying to re-engage disaffected youth in a debate about the country’s latest wave of political turmoil and the woes of the greater Middle East.
“People don’t want to be preached to. So we’re just doing a fun thing in order to put out serious issues,” says Alameh.
One example is Shorbaji's latest music video to his song O P P, which takes its title from the 1991 hit by the American hip-hop group Naughty By Nature. Shorbaji's version focuses on a suicide bomber working as a bank clerk who debates with himself whether or not to carry out an attack on his workplace.
Omar Kabbani, 31, a rapper and graffiti artist, and his brother Mohamed are another duo trying to make a difference. They run Ashekman, a rap, graffiti and urban clothing outfit, as well as a band (also called Ashekman).
“We consider ourselves to be the eight o’clock news when we go out to do graffiti,” says Omar. “They say I was born with a microphone and my twin brother with a spray can.”
While Omar is wary of calling Ashekman’s work political, the group’s music and street art don’t shy away from addressing the conflicts of Lebanese society.
Ashekman’s “Grendizer”, a giant war robot from anime cartoons that the group use in their designs, is often used by to mock what they see as mindless obedience to religious and political factions – and their militias – in Lebanon’s polarised political landscape.
“Many people that were warlords in Lebanon are now ruling the country,” says Omar, referring to leaders in Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990, who have gone on to build prominent political careers.
In their song Deyman Ijebeh, Arabic for "Always Positive", Ashekman make fun of what they see as attempts by Lebanese to appear unperturbed by their country's instability.
“They [leaders] are fighting over who will rule the Banana Republic,” Ashekman rap.
Their latest graffiti mural appeared in response to the recent spate of suicide bombings that shook Lebanon. It features the popular 1990s video-game character Bomberman running with a cartoon-like bomb, fuse lit, in his hands. The character skips past the word “Wanted” written in Arabic. Omar says it is a reference to what Ashekman feel is the manipulation by Lebanese politicians of the threat of terrorism to build greater personal power for themselves and to cow their rivals.
Jackson Allers, a Beirut-based American journalist who specialises in Arab hip-hop, says artists in the country are just beginning to discover how much power they can have.
“Their influence is increasing,” he says. “They’ve turned the critical gaze of youth inward, at their own peer group, which I would say is positive.”
Ali Rafei, 28, a graffiti and street artist from Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and the centre of Sunni culture, says his home city has largely been left to fend for itself. Since the outbreak of the civil war in neighbouring Syria, Tripoli has seen fighting between Sunni militants and supporters of the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
Rafei says urban decay in his city has provided ample space for his street paintings to be seen and appreciated.
“The emptiness that’s there pushes you to create and change visual scenery, hoping to change [locals’] views and relax the tension there,” he says. People “would prefer a drawing with colours and some meaning to them than a grey wall with pictures of politicians that do nothing for them”, he adds.
