Author, composer and performer, Rayess Bek defines himself as a free electron of the Lebanese rap scene. He has become a leading figure, at the avant-garde of hip-hop and urban music. He owes his reputation to the power of his words. The first to rap in Arabic, he has been denouncing the omnipresence of corruption and violence since his early days.
When Rayess Bek launched his musical career, Wael Koudaih (real name) was only 18, but had already experienced two wars in Lebanon. The first in 1982, when he was just three years old, forced his family to leave for France. Then in 1996, back in the Middle East, he suffered the “Grapes of Wrath” of a particularly deadly raid on the town of Qana All these trials and tribulations prompted him to become involved, and to tell the story of a complex land through his words, which combine rage and humor.
Censored in all Arab countries except his own, his albums are exchanged, downloaded and, finally, performed on stage internationally. But from 2012 onwards, Rayess Bek turned to a more performative musical form with “Good Bye Schlondorff”, which was broadcast at the Centre Pompidou and Berlin’s HKW, among other venues.
More recently, in collaboration with video artist Randa Mirza, he brought “Love and Revenge” to life: a concert between sound and image. An invitation to an uninhibited journey, resurrecting old hits and film extracts from the standards of Arab popular song. The idea is always the same: to combine tradition and modernity, transforming scars into symphonies.
