As six months have passed since Beirut’s port explosion, Lebanese-Armenian DJ and producer Roy Malakian, decided to create an English remix of Fairuz’s iconic “Li Beirut”.
Fairuz’s national song that has undoubtedly been revived ever since the Beirut blast sees a new spin on “Li Beirut” as the classic is introduced into its own downtempo and electronic genre while preserving its patriotic yet melancholy tone.
“I decided to do Li Beirut as this song means a lot to me, so I started working on a new arrangement with electronic sounds,” Malakian told The961.
“I wanted to send out hope and positivity, but it wasn’t easy as I was putting all my emotions into one track to describe the name in a beautiful way.”
“I usually manage to produce a song in three weeks, this record took me three months,” Malakian added, noting that he spent his time using the pandemic’s stay-at-home lifestyle to focus on producing the electronic version of ‘Li Beirut’.
Malakian collaborated with Lebanese vocalist Manel Al-Mallat to produce western beats and English lyrics on the much-loved classic.
His collaboration with Mallat is part of a bigger scale project, which includes a series of collaborations with a number of well-renowned vocalists.
“I finished a new track with a very good childhood friend of mine and one of the best music producers in Lebanon C-rouge. We produced a track about humanity with the south African singer Jamie Smith on the vocals,” he revealed.
Malakian created the electronic version from scratch. He advises everyone to start a project they’re passionate about during the nation-wide pandemic.
“The coronavirus pandemic is a big challenge on all of us, creating anything from scratch during these hard times will also help you work on yourself,” he says.
