Magida el Roumi’s concert was the main attraction in the 2011 Jounieh Festival and it was quite an eventful concert. I had decided not to go and gave away the ticket to a cousin but I ended up going as he bailed out at the last second.
The concert was scheduled at 9 and we had to be at the parking lots near the Casino du Liban by 7 (Now we know what they are for). Since I live in Jounieh, I decided to go park somewhere near Fouad Chehab and walk to the concert instead of parking far away and waiting for shuttles to pick us up. Surprisingly there was barely any traffic around 7 and I found a parking spot easily.
We were greeted at the Fouad Chehab stadium entrance with scouts selling wine and peanuts. There were also several stands including a Taanayel-sponsored Saj, a Hotdog stand, and a Johnny Walker stand. I wish they had some free juice or ice cream stand instead as it was too damn hot to drink Whiskey.
The event was planned to start at 9 but like all other Lebanese festivals, it started an hour later. At 9:20 Georges Kordahi the party’s host made a small presentation on the Jounieh Festival, before Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, showed up to the concert followed shortly by the President of the Republic Michel Sleiman. Magida el Roumi showed up around 10 pm and the concert was on its way.
Magida sang for almost 2 hours and listening to her live didn’t change my opinion about her. She has a very loud and annoying voice and I feel like she’s screaming all the time. No offense to the Magida fans. That’s just my opinion of her. Also, she kept on pointing out to our Lady of Harissa and thanking her for blessing this night and all to an extent I felt I was in some religious concert. Funnily enough, electricity went off Harissa for like half an hour.
At the end of the concert, President Sleiman decided to reward Magida for her achievements and there was a small ceremony on stage, then Magida sang a medley of folklore Lebanese songs to end the concert. Samir Geagea went on stage as well and danced dabke with the band.
In all, it was an entertaining night and a major success for the Jounieh festival organizers. Also, I didn’t know people were so fanatic about Magida as they were singing almost every song with her. I recorded some of her best songs which I will upload later on on YouTube.
I have no taste for any kind of stubborn affiliation in life, let alone political ones, and I really find Lebanese people’s biases quite amusing!! I mean, I heard (and saw pictures!) there was all sorts of political figures present at the concert, notably the son of a past Lebanese President of the Republic (MP Lahoud) and the head of the Lebanese parliamentary Christian bloc President Michel Aoun, did you fail to spot them from your seat? 😛
Trevor,
What pisses me off most is that they show up late and start saluting people instead of apologizing and rushing in.
I knew the president was here cause they announced him and I spotted Geagea dancing but I had no clue about the others nor could I care less 🙂
Aoun was at some play last year in Byblos and he showed up 45 minutes later and was happy about it.
it’s not hard to miss Aoun, you know.
Najib, Rachel who works in my office is really pissed off at this review and wants you to issue an apology
Pissed off by the fact that I don’t like Magida?
Tell her my words on Magida were “Kalimat layssat kal kalimat” li kenet neye 7attoun.
i think it would have been easier for you not to bother and post such a long review about something you didn’t even like versus relatively shortest review about other subjects Mr. Najib;)
Aziz,
I did enjoy my night but that didn’t change how I feel about Magida singing. Even if I dont like the event, it was a major success for Jounieh and some readers might be interested in checking some videos of the concert which I will upload next.
Magidas Concert was amazing Najibbb!!!
We were lucky she sang for 2.5 hours with more than 25 songs!!!
The sound system was not right at first, where Magida and her team later noticed it to adhust it!
It was simply superb!!
You may not forget the graphics and the crowd cheering nor her! Did you not notice she returned back on stage for 3 time for more songs! woul dabeeki were amazingg!!!
And best of all were the Cheers for the General 😛