Saad Lamjarred in Lebanon - controversy? What controversy?

Saad Lamjarred will be in Lebanon on NYE-1 (meaning December 30th) at the O club.

Lamjarred - who is Moroccan - has recently had an enormous hit with - Lebanese singer - Elissa in the form of a duet called "min awal dekika" (from the very first minute). Elissa, normally a fierce feminist, has been blamed for undertaken this step as Lamjarred has been - since 2010 - accused by three different women in the US, Morocco and in France of rape, sexual assault and other such matters (the Moroccan complaint was withdrawn by the woman under pressure of her family, and Mr. Lamjarred fled the US while on bail in 2010 and has not returned since). Yet when the Moroccan king himself interfered to cover his legal charges when he was arrested in France in 2016, it tells you how much Lamjarred is popular (his hit Lemaalem has been incredibly popular on youtube and at one point the most seen among Arab artists on that platform). 

When it was announced that he was going to sing in Baghdad, a large campaign started against him due to the allegations of rape that still haunt him - same as with Egypt (do note a concert he was supposed to do in Egypt in 2020 was cancelled, in addition to a TV show he recorded which was never broadcast). Lamjarred was also supposed to have a concert in Egypt early 2023, but it seems that there is a campaign currently in Egypt to stop it from happening.

At this point, Lamjarred's concert still has the green light in Lebanon it seems though.

In praise of the eternal Beirut5Ampere.

Images copyrighted to Beirut5ampere.org

Today, because I am asked about these images frequently, I am republishing this post which dates back to August 9, 2012:
Just in case you were busy with the Baalbeck, Byblos, and Beiteddine, you might have missed this series of awesome concerts offered by the guys from Beirut5ampere.org - namely "Jimmy Almouhandrix" (the engineer in case you didn't get it), Led Zepplin singing "Mar2ad anze" LP tour (too difficult to explain) including the hit single "Sellom bel 3ard" (holding the latter vertically - but also a word play on "Stairway to heaven"). Oum Koulsoum will grace Madison Square Garden in an effort to ease up Michele Bachmann anti-Islamic witch hunt, and Pink Floyd (yes, the old line up) will be doing the audio-visual bonanza of "Dark side of Bhamdoun" including the hits "See Oum Elie play" (as a reference to "See Emily play" - one of the very rare songs along Billy Idol's "Dancing with myself" which tackle the topic of... playing with one's self!) - do note the difference in pricing for Lebanese and Gulf tourists however. These are indeed concerts for the moteur generation.