Protest songs during the Lebanese Civil War

Abstract

The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) had an important impact in the social and cultural life of the region, including musical expression too. However, a research based on songs related to the military conflict, damages and aspirations caused by the war, has not yet been fully undertaken. Indeed, the Sociology of Music and the nature of the Protest Song can provide a different point of view on the conflict. Certainly, history books describe a conflict through military history, battle analysis or political development. But our approach goals to reach a different scope, as we tend to comprehend history through the lyrics of the songs in combination with biography and the artists life’s experiences. The study is divided in six chapters where the first one would be an introduction to the research through the methodology. The second chapter will overtake a glance of the music in Lebanon in relation with politics. The third one is a chapter concentrated on the history and the Lebanese society which is significant for the reader to be able to better understand the song analysis which are integrated in the following chapters four, five and six. The last three analytical chapters focus on the different wings involved in the Lebanese Civil War. Accordingly, we decided to study each faction in a different chapter, adding the last one with a foreign perspective on the conflict. In fact, this war, that took place over Lebanese soil, not only confronted dramatically the Lebanese people in a civil clash, but also was the consequence of disaster international politics in the Middle East. The world denounced through songs the calamities broadcasted.