Additional Information
Son of the mythical Fairuz and the equally legendary composer Assi Rahbani, Ziad Rahbani is an outstanding Lebanese artist: director, actor, pianist, very gifted composer… and very atypical. His original mix of classical Arabic music, modern jazz, funk, and contemporary music of Western tradition are still little known outside the Levant. Better late than never? Sooner or later, Ziad’s work will cross all borders. An opportunity to discover it arises at the Festival du monde arabe: for a while, the singer Lara Rain was his favourite performer. Living in Montreal since last winter, she is the ideal herald for Ziad Rahbani’s work to take its place in the city.
PAN M 360: How do you see Ziad’s musical revolutions? What do you think they are?
Lara Rain: I didn’t really know Ziad growing up. Born in Montreal, I was surrounded by another culture. Even back in Lebanon, we spoke French at home. My mother produced her own plays for children singing in French. My father had his own rock band and sang in English. I didn’t listen to Arabic music at all, which I didn’t like at all. Ziad Rahbani, I only knew him by name. As I grew up, and especially during my years at university, I discovered the impact and influence he had on Lebanese people of all ages. His plays are part of the cultural heritage and his music is in every home. But I knew him as a person first, before I knew his music and his theatre. Then, little by little, he showed me what he was doing… I remember the studio sessions where he made me listen to his records. I used to tell him, “It’s so beautiful!”, and it made him laugh to see me discovering things that everyone already knew. And then, it was through his fans, the people who came to listen to us, the messages I received that I realized how immense his impact is. Ziad is not only a very gifted musician. Ziad is a message, a way of being, a revolution in itself.
PAN M 360: What do you think of this allegedly atypical personality of Ziad?
Lara Rain: He thought it was strange when I told him that I was not interested in politics. “You watched my interview last night?” And I said, “A little bit, at first… you know, I don’t like politics, Ziad.” “But you sing with me!” He laughed at my (deliberate) political ignorance. I said I liked his music and that was it. The truth is that you can’t really separate Ziad’s music from Ziad’s ideology. It’s one and the same world. As I said before, Ziad is a revolution in himself. I love the way he thinks! Playing in underground bars and on the stage of big festivals is his way of saying that music is for everyone. If he could, he would have played everywhere for free. One day he gave me a bass drum full of CDs. He said, “Give them out, give them to people. Everybody has to have the chance to listen to beautiful songs.” For me, Ziad is the music, the arrangements that give me goosebumps, the lyrics so simple and true. Ziad is the artist who is a bit crazy, hyper-intelligent, unpredictable, (sometimes) stubborn, very sensitive, with his mischievous eyes and a unique sense of humour. A man with the heart of a child.
PAN M 360: How did you get to know Ziad? Were you in Montreal, or Canada, before you came to Beirut? How did you come to work with Ziad?
Lara Rain: I started my career in Montreal. I was carrying my digital piano around in bars and restaurants and singing my own compositions. I came back to Beirut in 2007 to spend Christmas with my family and play a concert. That’s how Ziad Rahbani heard my voice for the first time… he asked me to come to his studio. I played on his piano, we discussed everything and nothing and then he asked me to sing with him in his next concert. And the next one, and the one after that… I never went back to Montreal. That meeting, I think it was mostly a meeting of souls. We come from two different worlds and we are far apart culturally. But he understood me and I understood him. He fell in love with my voice and I fell in love with his music.
PAN M 360: How did Ziad involve you in his creative work?
Lara Rain: I have always been a very shy person, not very sure of myself. Ziad played a very important role in building my self-confidence. In the beginning I sang jazz standards with him in English. Sometimes I didn’t sing them exactly like the original, as jazz was a new style for me at the time. But his remarks were always encouraging. “I like very much how you made the song your own.”
His attitude towards me allowed me to explore my voice without fear. Two years after our debut, he wanted to produce my own songs. We started recording his favourite in his studio. That year, he also produced me in concert. I had never sung my songs in front of so many people before! Unfortunately, we never finished that project, but we started another one! Recording his songs with my voice! Another project that never saw the light of day. And then Ziad wanted me to start singing in Arabic… his mother’s classics. Singing Fairuz… It was a big responsibility for me! But I don’t sing quartertones and I don’t pronounce Arabic like the others. “I don’t want you to sing in quartertones, I want you to sing with your voice, with your own style of singing.” What he did in the end was strengthen my style instead of changing it. It’s making me discover it for myself and teaching me to love it and see it as a strong point, instead of a limitation. How did he involve me in his creative work? Without trying to change me, quite simply. Developing my assets to add to his. And also by asking me, very humbly, if I liked what he played on his piano. But we all know the answer to that question!
PAN M 360: What musical styles did you explore with him?
Lara Rain: All of them. All of them. Ziad is my biggest music school. It’s because of him that today I listen to Arabic music. Well, maybe not just any: only Fairuz and Ziad Rahbani. He has a unique way of mixing Lebanese music with jazz. An exchange of cultures that speaks to my heart.
PAN M 360: When did you return to Montreal?
Lara Rain: I came to Montreal in February 2020 to accompany my fiancé on his tour. He’s a musician too. We were planning to get married here with my family, and then go back to Lebanon to celebrate with his family. But circumstances did not allow it. And we ended up settling in Montreal… the city welcomed us very well. Montreal has always been my great getaway over the years. I always wanted to come back here. My husband will be playing with me on November 28. In fact, he is the one who took care of the musical aspect of the concert. He is working very hard for this show, at my side.
PAN M 360: What is your state of mind regarding the current situation in Lebanon, the youth revolt, the anti-corruption movement, last summer’s explosion, etc.?
Lara Rain: Before I came back to Canada, I was on the streets of Lebanon almost every day with my flag in my hand. I have never been a patriot, but the revolution has awakened in me this sense of belonging. We absolutely need change! Young people don’t want to know anything anymore about all these political parties that only separate us by showing our differences. It’s time to build a country on common beliefs. We have so many similarities, we want the same things: to live with dignity and to have an honest and reliable government. The Lebanese have been robbed for years. The corruption of the country disgusts me. The explosion… leaves me speechless. All I can say is that I keep hope, that one day we can all go back to this beautiful country… that one day I will produce another play there, that I will see again all those who (like me) had to leave, and that Lebanon will become again what it once was.
PAN M 360: What will Ziad’s repertoire be on the FMA programme?
Lara Rain: I will mainly sing the songs that I have already performed alongside Ziad. There are others that he had asked me to prepare but that we have never sung together. As I work on them, I always imagine him sitting in front of me and I can imagine how he would have liked to listen to them! I’ve been missing him a lot since we started the preparations! Singing Ziad, without Ziad… it makes me melancholy and nostalgic.
PAN M 360: Any Fairuz classics on the programme?
Lara Rain: Yes, of course! In addition to the beautiful songs that Ziad Rahbani wrote for his mother, I will also sing classics composed by his father (Assi) and his uncle (Mansour).
PAN M 360: Do you plan to perform your own songs?
Lara Rain: I have written a lot of songs during my career. Most of them have been transformed and are now part of my musicals. But I will only sing two of them during the concert: the first song I wrote in Arabic, and Ziad’s favourite song, the first one he asked me to record in his studio. I would like to thank the Festival du monde arabe for this great opportunity! I have always dreamed of coming back to Montreal, my hometown, with Ziad. I also always wanted to do a show at Place des Arts. Because of the current circumstances, the situation is not exactly what I imagined… an empty venue, and Ziad in Lebanon. But the festival has found a nice solution to all this… and my family in Lebanon, as well as Ziad, will be able to watch the show online.
