Mashrou' Leila: the Lebane die band champng Arab gay rights | Mic | The Guardian

Contents:

• MASHROU' LEILA: THE LEBANE DIE BAND CHAMPNG ARAB GAY RIGHTS
• LEBANE BAND MASHROU’ LEILA AND ITS GAY LEAD SGER ARE SMASHG MIDDLE EASTERN HOMOPHOBIA
• LEBANE INDIE ROCK BAND MASHROU’ LEILA IS DOG A LOT MORE FOR GAY RIGHTS THAN YOUR BAND
• LEBANE BAND WH GAY FRONTMAN SAYS IT WAS BANNED FROM JORDAN FOR PROMOTG DEVIL-WORSHIP
• LEBANE BAND WH GAY ONTMAN BARRED OM JORDAN
• JORDAN BANS LEBANE ROCK BAND WH GAY LEAD SGER OM PERFORMG

MASHROU' LEILA: THE LEBANE DIE BAND CHAMPNG ARAB GAY RIGHTS

Yet their early songs, such as Shim El Yasme (Smell the Jasme), a tenr ballad about abandong a gay lover for a prcribed marriage, and the Balkan jazz-style hoedown of Raks Leila, shot them to unexpected surprise was partly down to the fact that few pennt Lebane micians had ma big before. Yet bee of their outspoken support for LGBTQ rights (Sno is a rare out gay figure Arab media) they have received more prs for their polics than their fds himself saddled wh beg a voice for Arabs, Mlims and the Middle Eastern LGBTQ muny.

The Egyptian ernment arrted 75 people that they spected of beg gay the ensug band watched this happen om abroad, powerls. Happy 10th birthday to Mashrou’ Leila, one of the most revolutnary bands history — thanks large part to s darg lead sger, a gay man named Hamed Sno.

Throughout their rise to fame, Sno mataed proment as a rare openly gay entertaer Lebane culture. Are you a fan of Mashrou’ Leila and openly gay lead sger Hamed Sno?

LEBANE BAND MASHROU’ LEILA AND ITS GAY LEAD SGER ARE SMASHG MIDDLE EASTERN HOMOPHOBIA

Gay sex. Lead sger Hamed Sno, who is openly gay, has never shied away om penng lyrics more ditive of his own life than of the clichéd "boy meets girl" trope that has monopolized the Arabic-speakg mic dtry.

LEBANE INDIE ROCK BAND MASHROU’ LEILA IS DOG A LOT MORE FOR GAY RIGHTS THAN YOUR BAND

In "Shim el Yasme, " he sgs about a man whom he wanted to troduce to his parents as his groom, and for the past 6 years, Mashrou' Leila has sung loudly about gay rights a untry that don't have, they're the first Arabic-speakg rock band to discs gay rights, and that's pretty awome. " Acts nsired unnatural, such as homosexualy, are met wh arrts on the streets and hom, along wh a year jail. At the requt of the mayor of Dekwaneh, a Beit suburb, police raid and shut down var gay-iendly nightclubs Beit last year.

The police took their actns one step further, teachg a lson through huiatn: They forced the club goers to undrs and be photographed naked the municipal they began 2008, Mashrou' Leila have been notorly ntroversial, and not jt for their pro-gay lyrics. " Their lyrics have charted Arab Sprg and the progrsn of gay rights better than some news agenci, but the band don't claim to speak for anyone. But whether was their tentn or not, Mashrou' Leila's lyrics have been ed to articulate the sentiment of the youth Beit, and they've ma Arabic Indie Rock the loust advote for human rights, and specifilly gay rights, the Arab they started sgg about sex, more people began talkg about sex.

LEBANE BAND WH GAY FRONTMAN SAYS IT WAS BANNED FROM JORDAN FOR PROMOTG DEVIL-WORSHIP

Mashrou' Leila's sistence on the subject matter mic was a weled change for many, allowg the topic of gay rights to seep to the cultural mastream, and leavg policians no choice but to discs themselv.

Last year, Lebanon beme the first Arab untry to classify homosexualy as a "disease, " and jt this month a Beit judge led out a se agast a transgenr woman, argug that Article 534 should not be applied to same sex upl, as gay sex is not "unnatural. Not only n the next judge jt as easily apply Article 534 to homosexualy the next se, but stutns such as gay marriage, gays the ary, adoptn by gay upl, regnn of gay upl, and anti-discrimatn s the workplace are all still only real change is that fally people are startg to talk about . Our personal state, or bed state, what mic we've been listeng to, the stggl we face om the utterly signifint to the lud world-changg ambns, but censorship is not one of them, nor is marketed are polil, sexual, social begs, we sg about the thgs that matter to on a ep level, and creatg mic is our exprsn for was a huge victory for the LGBT muny this month when a judge led that Article 534 don't crimalize gay sex.

I thk the next step is somethg that's been gog on for some time, which is tryg to get more public bat and discsns about homophobia the gotten easier for you as a band to start discsns about homophobia?

LEBANE BAND WH GAY ONTMAN BARRED OM JORDAN

Bee of your pro-gay lyrics, do you always have eedom to move when tourg? The group had already drawn ternatnal attentn before this tour, both for s mil style – alternative rock sung Arabic, driven by vl stras and Sno’s emotive voice – and for the fact that is a rary the Arab world: a popular group wh an openly gay lead inty has sometim led to backlash.

Tour, the adlit mass shootg morn Amerin history unfold at a gay nightclub Orlando, Fla., rried out by a man who claimed allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State. Sudnly, Sno – who was born the Uned Stat and raised Lebanon -- found himself beg lled upon to ment on behalf of the Mlim and gay muni. “Maghawir” the story of a shootg at a nightclub to crique hyper-masculy, and “Tayf” tells of a police raid on a gay club a Beit spiratn for the album was timately personal, Sno said.

JORDAN BANS LEBANE ROCK BAND WH GAY LEAD SGER OM PERFORMG

“I gus I jt took to var pisms, cludg a very tense nightlife for a while, and so the entire album is really about mourng si nightclubs, ” he the wake of the attack the Orlando gay club, what had been personal sudnly beme polil. “For the queer muny, you sort of grow up feelg like all the spac around you treat you like a monster and then the first time you walk to a gay bar or club, you kd of jt feel like you’re wh the rt of the circ and you’re pany that will shelter you, ” Sno said. 9, be nceled, sayg the group's songs are an sult to die rock band, whose lead sger and song wrer Hamed Sno is openly gay, has been a champn of LGBT rights the Arab world and regularly sgs agast ntroversial subjects such as sectarianism, rptn and other social band has prevly been banned om performg Jordan and Egypt, but censorship mands threateng s ncert the more liberal Lebanon — where has performed on numero ocsns — are new.

At the requt of church thori the Hasheme kgdom, Jordan nceled a ncert set for Friday by the popular Lebane die band Mashrou’ Leila, which tackl issu of sexualy and polics and whose ontman is openly gay. A 2015 US State Department report on human rights found that while Jordan is one of the few Middle Eastern untri to crimalize homosexualy, discrimatn is still wispread.