Music is Life | Tanya Traboulsi
Think of Picasso sitting around with Stravinsky and Debussy in fin-de-siecle Paris, smoking skinny cigarettes and drinking absinthe. Or imagine Bianca Jagger partying in Studio 54 with Andy Warhol and Liza Minnelli. Thanks to the photographers and writers who populate the edges of scenes like these, recording the fun and frolics for those who weren’t there, such images as these have found a nook in the junk-room of the collective consciousness.
The “underground” segment of the Beirut music scene, which in the past decade or so has provoked a relatively high degree of fascination (particularly in view of its modest size), now has its own documenter in the form of Tanya Traboulsi. For the past three years, the photographer has systematically captured the concerts and the people of various Beirut bands. Under the title “Music is Life,” these images have been exhibited as far afield as New York, and there are plans to publish them next year in the form of a book.
“The music scene here is so special because of the people that form it,” Traboulsi says. “They’re all unique and interesting, intense and highly gifted.”
Some might apply these adjectives to Traboulsi’s images, featuring a range of faces familiar to hipster audiences across the city. Experimental improv guitarist Sharif Sednaoui is caught romancing his guitar strings in a pool of light during a concert at the Beirut Art Center. Brightly-garbed members of Mashrouaa Leila sit abreast during a break from rehearsals. A topless Charbel Haber throws back his head during a sweaty Scrambled Eggs gig in Paris.
Traboulsi also snaps members of Beirut’s hip-hop contingent. Malikah is caught from below, a red scarf billowing beneath her bangled arm. I-Voice, the rap duo, pose in Bourj al-Barajneh, the Palestinian camp from where the pair hail and where they built their studio.
“No matter what the genre of music, the past and present of this city is always reflected,” says Traboulsi. “Be it war, parties, fun, grief, depression. In Beirut, it’s all about extremes.”
Pebbledash Gallery 2 Leswin Place, Stoke Newington, London N16 7NJ14th to 20th November
To see a selection of images from the “Music is Life” series, visit www.tanyatraboulsi.com