Beirut & Beyond welcomes a different regional musician every year as guest curator of the festival’s programme of concerts, tours and talks. Guest curators bring their own artistic imprint to the festival, allowing for a continuous rejuvenation of the programme, whilst also staying true to the roots of the festival as a showcase of emerging regional acts from across genres, styles and influences.
At the forefront of Hip Hop and urban music in the Arabic speaking world, Guest Curator Wael Koudaih (a.k.a. Rayess Bek) is an author, composer and interpreter with seven album releases and performances in over 400 concerts worldwide. Most recently, Koudaih collaborated with photographer RandaMirza to create Love and Revenge, an audio-visual concert that revives old popular Arabic songs and films by adapting them to the patterns and aesthetics of today’s music, which they presented at Centre Pompidou, Banlieues Bleues and Mucem.
Find out more about Wael Koudaih here.
