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Lebanon rappers give Christian message a hip-hop twist
With their baggy jeans, baseball caps and earrings, Lebanon's new rap music stars could almost be mistaken for their US urban ghetto counterparts, except that the lyrics tell a Christian story.In Lebanon -- a country which does not tolerate religious provocation -- the group "Militia", formed by two young Christians, treads a fine line by rapping and dancing about the glory of God. "From the bowels of hell, the Lord crossed the darkness," thunder the lyrics of the two-man band, which claims to be the first to spread the Christian message through the medium of Arabic hip-hop. Charles Makriss, 27, and Marun Adolph, 23, have released their first album after winning over a sceptical public. "We are the first to sing Christian hip-hop in Arabic. In the beginning when we started holding concerts with these types of songs, many people, particularly the older generation, were very hostile. It was a shock," writer and breakdance choreographer Makriss said. "Then one day, we were singing at a gig close to a church and I saw a priest clapping really enthusiastically," said the musician, who saw this as a sign the group's message was getting through. Hip-hop is not new to the Arab world. From Morocco to the Palestinian territories, dozens of Arabic rap groups have sprung up over the past few years. But religious hip-hop is less well known. "Here, in the Middle East, people frown on the idea of singing songs involving sacred texts," said Marun. Posted by: ryuge 2008-02-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=223387 |