There is more to this song than its exquisite music, touching lyrics, and the marvelous voice of its singer. It has a story born from a conflicting love-hate relationship with her Lebanon; a reflection of the pain of the Lebanese youth towards their country that has failed me. Her video-clip sends a message of gratitude to “All the Souls of this Beautiful Thawra.”
The song is a poem to which have related all these young people who participated in creating the video-clip. You’ll feel in the song the ache of our youth for their dreams of a better Lebanon that, just a month ago, had seemed impossible to them; dreams of a decent country where they can live with dignity and build their lives by the side of their families in the homeland.
It was first composed and sang by the singer with the little hope left to her and our youth, less than a year ago. Today, the song comes back to life, with the full force of the revolution that has renewed their hope and revived their dreams.
“For the love of this revolution that is our last hope, us young Lebanese people, to really see a change in our country, and hopefully stop thinking about emigration and start dreaming about opportunities, about building our future, with our families, not abroad,” Mary Aouad, a friend of the group, told us yesterday as she introduced us to the song. She went on adding, “We are asking for our basic rights that we should have had years ago!”
The young singer, whose enchanting voice and song you’ll hear in a moment, is Dahlia Nemlich and her youtube channel goes by the name Dahlia On The Run. She’s a Lebanese-French singer and director, who grew up between France and Lebanon until three years ago when she decided to move back home to Lebanon for good.
@dahliaontherunThe song, music, and video are Dahlia’s work. The video clip is freshly new. It was recorded now during the revolution in Beirut, and produced and arranged by her friend Namir Maitala. Her friend Chris Adourian played the violin that accompanies her in her song. Some of her friends have also participated in the scenes of the video. Such a beautiful youth!
Like with every meaningful song we hear out there, there is always a human story around it, a purpose beyond the apparent and, sometimes, a secret to reveal. And, if you are like me, you would care to know about that which gave birth to this song and the video. To our desire to know more, this is what Dahlia shared with us today:
“Beirut is a poem dedicated to the city and that I wrote a few months ago, before the revolution. I wrote it to understand that love/hate relationship I have with the country.”
“When the revolution started, I realized how much the love part was taking over the hate part. There is no other place I’d rather be. And that’s because of the people. We are the reason why this place has this inexplicable beauty.”
Dahlia continued explaining, “This video was an opportunity to show that we are the core of Lebanon and, in unity, we will make a change. I shot those images during the second week of the revolution, filming friends and strangers. I love how everyone has been supporting art during those past few weeks. It’s been a playground for inspiration.”
According to Dahlia in her youtube video’s description, she wrote this song to express the strange perspective she had about the city. “Today, I want to share it for a different purpose, my strong love for all the Lebanese people here and around the world,” she says. “Because WE are Lebanon, its OUR country and WE will take it back.”
She adds, “The energy of this past week has been incredible and we need to keep it up and not to lose hope! Thank you to everyone for taking part in the beautiful revolution, paving the future with peace and love.”
Here is the video clip. (Spoiler alert: I replayed it five times!)
Follow us on Instagram @the961 and on Twitter the961com as we are currently covering the Lebanese revolution stories. Also, join us on Facebook @The961 to engage with our fans in Lebanon and across the world.
