Tuesday, December 29, 2020

NYE ads: The lackluster end of a lackluster year

Well, a few years ago, hotels, clubs, cafes, restaurants would be competing as to book the biggest stars of the Lebanese artistic scene (singers, dancers, entertainers, one-man-show performers, etc...), this year the two or three ads only add to the macabre feel of the whole year. I only took one, showing Casino du Liban with two stars performing - there were as I said a couple of others, but this year (and NOT just because of COVID-19) has been a very tough year. Actually, there is an urban myth (which could probably be true) that sometime in the mid-80s factions agreed on a ceasefire on New Year's Eve to allow popular singer Raghab Alameh to cross from Western Beirut to the Eastern part because he had a contract with two restaurants on either sides of the divided city.

But as I said, 2020, was the perfect storm on Lebanon on all possible fronts.