Art Amid Rubble: Concert In Lebanon Aims To Defy War With Music

As the guns have fallen silent after the ceasefire in Lebanon, there is another form of resistance through music and art.

A concert amid the rubble in Beirut has become a powerful message of the resilience of the people in Lebanon. As participants pay homage to those killed in Israeli bombings, music and art have been used as powerful tools to keep the memory alive and defend Lebanon.

"This is a way to show our resilience through music, through storytelling, through any way we can get to the people to keep our stories being told from the right side - to be able to tell our stories. Today is a day to tell our stories through music," said Sumia, a participant in the concert.

Sumia is a displaced Lebanese whose home has been destroyed in a recent Israeli bombing in the Yaroun village of the Bint Jubail District near the Lebanon-Israel border.

Despite the ceasefire, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have not withdrawn from dozens of villages and towns, including Yaroun. Israel has occupied areas 8-10 km deep inside Lebanese territory and declared that these villages will be turned into a security buffer zone. 

Despite the destruction of her home and village, Sumia appears to be determined to go back and recreate memories. The performance here also has lessons in resistance for younger generation

"I'm from the border, the village called Yaroun. In the initial days of the war, my home was ok - but recently they (Israel) bombed so many houses in the village. My house was also bombed," she said.

Sumia said that Israel is demolishing their houses in South Lebanon so that people can never return to the area. "They think that if our homes are gone we will not come back. But this is probably a chance for us that no matter what they do, our land is going to be there, and we will come back and rebuild our homes, and we will recreate our memories, and we will also teach our children about resilience, that we fight and we gave blood to come back to our land," she said.

In a deeply fractured, war-torn country, art is also bringing together people from different faiths to oppose Israel and pledge their support for resistance against the occupation. Even as several Christian groups and parties in Lebanon oppose Hezbollah, at the concert, Dania, a Christian woman, was seen displaying a placard reading "resistance is our choice and we reject any compromise". 

Dania said Hezbollah is fighting for all Lebanese, not just Shia Muslims, and blamed Israel for destroying her country. Israel has come under criticism after churches were targeted during the war, and a soldier was recently seen smashing the statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in the occupied area of south Lebanon.

"We are all here to support the resistance. We are with them. Our voice is for the resistance, for Hezbollah, in Lebanon. Hezbollah is fighting against Israel. We are with them," said Dania.

On why she is attending the event when Hezbollah is known as a largely Muslim group, Dania said that Hezbollah is defending everyone and people from every faith. "They say that the resistance is limited to Shias. But Hezbollah is for all people. Hezbollah defends Muslims, Christians, Sunnis, and Shias. Hezbollah is for all people," she said.

Yaroun and many villages in south Lebanon that have been destroyed have a mixed population of Muslims and Christians. So the pain of destruction of historic villages like Yaroun, which is even mentioned in the Old Testament, is common.

There was mass detonation of houses by the IDF that levelled towns and villages across south Lebanon. While a ceasefire started on Friday, the war has already uprooted lakhs of people who have nowhere to go.

Israel has drawn a new yellow line after using the Gaza playbook in South Lebanon and justified the destruction of thousands of homes by declaring these places terrorist sites. The IDF even released videos of the mass destruction of villages as part of its campaign to destroy Hezbollah-linked infrastructure. Rights groups say mass destruction of homes in South Lebanon constitutes a war crime.

But despite losing everything in the war, people in Lebanon said Israel cannot bomb their resolve to resist occupation. They said it's not the first time they have been turned homeless and subjected to mass displacement. It's a situation people are facing during every war. In the last two years this has been the second displacement and destruction of homes in Lebanon.

After every war in Lebanon, music and art have become an important tool for survival, preservation of memory, resistance and healing, as art holds an extraordinary power to influence and shape collective consciousness.

After the ceasefire, Beirut appears to be less fearful and filled with hope. As deadly Israeli air strikes have stopped and people are expressing themselves through art, Lebanon still faces a complex situation and needs peace within and without.