2009
12.21
12.21
Year: 2009
Download this release
About: Mashrouʼ Leila is Arabic for ʻan overnight projectʼ lusting out a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards. It started out as a music workshop at the American University of Beirut in 2008, an open platform for students of architecture and design, somewhere to experiment with sounds and make things audible. In the various performances, Mashrouʼ Leila is a constant attempt to taste and produce, more than happy to harvest anyone from the audience as a guest in their encores. They have performed around Lebanon since 2008, playing in various venues in Beirut. The music in their debut album, released in December 2009 with B-root Productions is a reclamation of the aftertaste; sequel-ing a dose of Beirut. (Adapted from a text by Raafat Majzoub)
Credits:
Music by: Haig Papazian, Hamed Sinno, Carl Gerges, Omaya Malaeb, Andre Chedid, Firas Abou Fakher, Ibrahim Badr. Lyrics by: Hamed Sinno Produced by: b-root productions Mastering by: Oscar Zambrano, Zampol productions NYC. Khaled Yassine (percussions on Raksit Leila)
Download:
Direct
Encoding/Size: CBR 320 / 81 MB
Encoding/Size: CBR 320 / 81 MB
I openly admit that I have download albums that are not available for retail purchase from here, so thanks for those, but this, this is personally offensive and I don’t even need to explain why…
And you do not have to.
Thanks for the post on Feel Notes by the way :)
Keep it up!
Oh so you’ve read the blog then?
No need to explain how promoting artists is supposed to be carried out then… you’ve seen a living example.
Good man Oday. ;)
you can download the the album from itunes so you could help the band carry out :)
happy to meet you on earth
Monika, Germany
come to egypt
You guys are life savers.. Thank you!
I wonder if (how much) the traffic spiked..
i’m going to download the music from here, but it’s only because i can’t find the album now.
All i know is i’m buying it as soon as i find it.
Make sure to make it to their concerts next time as that’s where they make the most profit :)
Great album!!!!!! Keep up the amazing work guys!
Demco Steel Concert was awesome!
matteo – rome
Does anyone know if the album comes with any lyrics?
Hello Shadi.
Yes, the lyrics are present and are written in Arabic.
Yes. The album comes with all of the lyrics for all of the songs.
This download however does not…
To get the lyrics you have to actually buy the album :D
Good point!
Keep rocking that keyboard out, O :)
Well, you can figure out the lyrics and write them yourself if you’re not lazy.
ooh, thanks! beatiful song… amazing! *-*
It is true! i am ENRAGED! pple like u disgust me. will it make any difference if u guys would buy the CD and encourage young lebanese artists instead of stealing it ?!
you are bastardizing art. this in unacceptable i will be reporting this site to the minstry of interior. i have no connection to the band but i think people like you are the reason less art comes out of our part of the world. 2 years of work and u post the entire album like you made it yourslef. Ignorant idiots
wow – do you know these guy are being promoted in the States because of the folks who you call “ignorant” – I wonder how many band are EVER heard on a National Radio broadcast in The USA – maybe 0% from Lebanon…They may now have a chance of getting a record contract – wow sure your not from asia where they think only til the end of there nose? Now who is the simple minded fool?
guys, the day the ministry of interior starts doing anything what so ever we can discuss piracy laws. in the mean time, we do make our money off of gigs [not that we make any money since it goes 9 ways]. CDs are expensive, china’s buying africa, the zionists are demolishing al aqsa, and hamed thinks he might be the second christ coming (on his own face that is). of all the problems in the country, the region, and the world, i think a little bootlegging wont do anyone too much harm. imagine what bourj hammoud and da7iya would’ve been like without rip off almodovars, labakis, rahbanis, and indian pornography. i suggest we focus on why the ministry of interior keeps dodging the palestinian crisis. yes?
riffi ya hamama (i agree)
well everyone is still missing the whhhhhhhhooooooooole point, piratebeirut or any other lebanese sites that proclaims to be promoting lebanese bands or anything like that are wrong!! because without rewards, specifically money, for their own personal efforts, these bands will no be able to go on producing the music there doing, some of them are students or maybe have full time jobs, and count on a kind of success before planning to contine with what otherwise is only a hobby!!
of course needless to add that life in beirut is already getting 2 expensive!! u want them to go to some gulf country to make money???
Also, before arabizing and doing paralelizm with the Palestine turmoil, or blaming the ministry of interior, we as lebanese youth should START respecting trademarks, personal effort, properties, public places, sponsorship, ownership, legal rights!!!!!!!!!!
Well I have to thank this blog for many reasons.
I always liked buying music by local unknown bands. As I recall, my first was by The Kordz (I can’t remember how I thought of buying a single, but I did… and I like doing so).
However, this year, underground Lebanese bands are booming. So for that, I mostly check the blog for the weekly new reviews. Then, if I found the album, I’d buy it.
Another thing I have to thank this blog for, is making it able to share the music with the people outside the small “Arab World”. Many European acquaintances are now familiar with Soap Kills, and they’re really loving it. I don’t think they were able to hear about it, or buy it, so not much loss money-wise. Still these people know that band, and know that style of music, and this alone make “stealing” the albums positive.
Hello Lebanon, artists should make a living without impeding on our freedom to share. Intellectual property is wrong, we are not stealing, we are copying and sharing which are essential freedoms of the Humanity.
This music, once I heard it, is mine. I can do anything I want with it. I can copy it, I can replay it, I can change its lyrics, I can change it’s instruments. I’m free because this music is free. I does not belong to anyone. Music is not land. It has no limits.
7aram tsk tsk tsk
I couldn’t agree any more with you Slim. Even land however should not be subject to appropriation.
And to everybody else, it is naive to believe your favourite bands profit substantially from your purchase of their music albums. Bands enter contracts with music production companies because they have no possibility to advertise their music within the global, neo-monopolistic corporate economy. In fact bands benefit more from filesharing as their music becomes more widely known and as a result people can visit their concerts.
Against the commodification of life.
I really want to support them but I can’t find their album anywhere, I would prefer to buy a physical copy too :) once its on some online store I’m going to buy it :D
For the record, bought the CD, ma 2elle khele2 to convert to mp3 file format. Downloading it from here. taanx 3anjad taanx..
ok, i just happened upon this website as i was googling for album art AFTER having bought the mashrou3 leila album.
I admit i pirated most of the music i have, but i have to say that i’m a hardcore supporter of local music industry, and make it a point to buy the albums of the bands i like.
i also have to say that had i known of this website and had i downloaded the album beforehand, i would have taken my time in buying the album and may even forget about it altogether despite my convictions.
Providing the WHOLE album for download is wrong. It’s just too easy and too much of a temptation!! If you want to promote local artists as you claim then why not provide a FEW tracks that are STREAMED so that people are exposed to the artists without offering their hard work on a silver platter.
At least do so for the artists whose albums are still IN THE MARKET!
The music itself should be free, our whole website is based on that. You can still support an artist by attending a live performance (yes, for the n-th time, this is where the money is at). Ever since we started that blog, a lot of artists have been booming – it will be hard to prove that using premises and arguments, but we’ll try to show a few stats once the time is right.
Oh and, you’re welcome for the album art :)
I dont know if I should support Anon or not.
the debate will always be there.
but heres the thing, what anon do in Pirate Beirut gives the chance for the Lebanese artists to become more known around the world and for us here in Egypt it give us the chance to listen to this music and know this artists and wait for them when they come to Egypt it happens believe me it does happen, that the popularity of an artist increase because of such websites.
I wish we had Pirate Cairo :)
I totally agree!!
PirateCairo would be a BRILLIANT idea, something that should destroy those jerks at “noogoomii.fm” and “myyyeeegeee”, jackasses who plaster their bloody website tags in every fillable cavity!!!!!! I HATE THEM!!!!! Underground bands in egypt deserve a place like this to get well known. bands like Salalem, Masar Egbary, Telepoetic, Cairokee, Y-Crew. I can’t find their CDs and I haven’t enough time to attend their concerts, so pirating (3ala ma tofrag!) is the way to go!!
This is a great album, I wish I could find the lyrics though, I can’t understand half of what they’re saying, and I’ve lived amongst Lebanese people most of my life :S
I live in the US and ive been trying really hard to get this album! So yes I support this website because this is the only way i can get my hands on any of this music. i also think that anyone IN lebanon who downloads anything from this website is a complete idiot. SUPPORT THE ARTIST; BUY THE ALBUM if you like their stuff and want to help them out!
FYI the second i’m back in leb, im buying the album :)
Thx for this! An acquaintance of mine mentioned the band, and I’ve been listening to “Rakrit Leila” non-stop ever since! Apologies to you, M.L., but somehow, somewhen I’ll invite you here to play.
Oh and for the discussion: I believe in supporting artists. Therefore, I go to shows, I organize shows, I cook, I clean, I promote, I pick them up at their airport and send them on their way again. I give copies to friends, so they bring their friends to the show. The music? A digital copy costs nothing, and is a vehicle for promotion for the band. Most artists make their money on everything but the CD – the CD is a tool to reach new audiences. So is this CD-rip that I’m currently downloading. If it’s all as good as the rest of the songs I’ve heard, I have no doubt that I can find an audience for them in Europe. And that’s where digital copies come into play.
Artists today should monetize the limited ressources (i.e. a life performance, a band-produced t-shirt etc. etc.) and give the music away for free.
For more on this philosophy, which is keeping the independent music scene alive and kicking and better than ever: techdirt.com
I want to buy the album, but can’t find it. just downloading it to be able to listen to this great music!
Will they be coming to Taiwan? Wow Awesome – see if they can get it on iTunes!!! and yes this will promote coz many of us will buy as soon as we can!!
thanks to this site..I know Mashrou’ Leila , and went to their Byblos concert after listening to their songs which I downloaded from THIS site.
take a chill pill.
I’m downloading for free AND will buy the real thing at CD-Thèque next time I’m in Beirut. In the meantime, thanks for the mp3 appetizer.
FYI, CD-Thèque has closed in February 2010. It’s available at Virgin, but we all know who pockets the money there. Try to go to a live show instead!
Big fan of this band (there a few of us here in Israel). Music has no boundaries. Great music and thank you uploading the album.
Hi,
Can you please advice me where I can buy this album, via internet ebay, amazon etc…I did not find it when I went to Lebanon this summer.
Many thanks in advance.
SB
soush21@hotmail.com
Hi SB,
It’s available at Virgin Megastore.
I can see there has been some debate about whether this is a good idea.
I’m downloading the album for free, and thanks. If it’s good, I will want to see them perform live. Then they will get my money. If i don’t download the album first, how will I ever want to see them perform?
I’ve been looking for this, desperately. Thanks alot.
If there’s anything I could add to the discussion going above, I’d advice reading the the last 10-15 posts in this thread which discussed whether album sharing online is a good idea or not.
http://pixeledwords.com/2010/04/06/pw-music-the-late-late-edition/#comment-1966
I think the audiophiles behind Pirate Beirut deserve a high five for what they are doing for (yes, for) striving musicians.
I’m going to narrate a simple sequence of events. While they may seem mildly self-indulgent, I do have a point:
1. I live in an Arab country where there is an embryonic art/music/literary scene; guess which
2. While driving to work in the morning I found one of these high tech (well, high tech for me) gadgets-that-make-the-car-play-music-on-USB that my brother left in the car
3. I heard a number of new songs that I started drooling over, so naturally I took the USB down to work with me so I can rip off the songs, and hopefully get the name of the song/artist if it wasn’t something like Unknown 05
4. Rakset Leila was one of those songs, my instinctive next stop was Google (one day search engine monopoly will be history, but for now I’m happy with just crapmusic tycoons)
5. I found this website (a gem!) and now I have a whole new world of music to explore.
6. As I continue to get to know all of these musicians and their music – something that massively breaks up the monotony of my day and makes work bearable – I will constantly check for concerts in my city (or more realistically, Beirut)
7. I will rave to all of my friends, Arab and foreign, scattered all over the world, about this or that amazing new song that they *must* hear; I will direct them to this site
8. The rest can be figured out through simple derivation.
A new appreciator of a large number of less-known musicans was created because she was able to download (not just stream) their music. The relationship between listener and music grows if you have the music at hand (pun intended) and can listen to it when in a certain chill/chaotic/destructive/depressive/euphoric/whatever mood, and depending on what the music is. I for one never go on youtube because I hate streaming. Streaming is a tease when the song you’ve been desperate for can’t go on your iPod.
Not everyone has access to Virgin Megastore, people. If I find the albums I like, I will buy them. I can’t buy them if I didn’t know to look out for them! And hell yes, I will attend concerts and drag friends kicking and screaming. Do the math, stupidly-holier-than-thou retributros.
Piratebeirut needs more publicity.
Thanks a lot for that insightful comment.
Here’s our high five back!
Much Love to Pirate Beirut! (A)
I am not Lebanese nor am I from the Middle/Near East nor from any of the Abrahamic faiths – so having personally no demographic, cultural or even, dare I say, ‘religious’ connections or ties to draw me, real or emotional, to an interest to music from your back yard, what do I care?
Further, and you may say, “What the ….!”, and I sincerely mean no disrespect or intention to hurt, more so as I am not an Arabic speaker, I find the sound of Arabic not sweet at all, but rather guttural, harsh, staccato.
But, but, but that is the case when Arabic is Spoken – when it is Sung …ohhhh, what can I say, I am transported to another plane and in conjunction with the sound of music of Arab origin, well, my mind and body experiences pure oneness.
So what am I saying, what am I experiencing, what is my mojo?
My answer, well, I really do not know! There is something though within me, my make-up, my sense of being that has a connection with the sound of songs and music of Arab origin. I can not figure, as I am of Indian heritage, born and bred in the UK, who grew up listening to and still loving reggae and punk.
Neither am I some modern-day ‘orientalist’, drawn to Arab music out of some misty-eyed, ‘romantic’ alignment of support for ‘the Arabs fight against Western imperialism’ that I find with many here in the UK – a blind anything ‘Western bad, Arab good: eat the houmous, drink the mint tea and wear the keffiyeh’ crowd. This is condescending of me, yes, but I hope you understand the point I am attempting to make.
What I also find surprising about my love of music from the Arab world is its eclecticism – whether it is modern, classical, vocal, instrumental, folk or pop, I love it – Ghalia Benali, The Spy from Cairo, Souad Massi, Soeur Marie Keyrouz, Raqs Sharqi, Lena Chamamian, urban rai, Amel Mathlouthi, Idir and Maurice El Médioni. And I have to admit to even liking Sophia Al Marikh singing Kelmet Hobb. Last year I saw Omar Souleyman live and let me tell you the whole audience did not now what to expect, but within ten seconds the whole joint was jumping, right to the concert end.
And two albums that have gone straight into my top ten Desert Island record bag are the wonderful and on constant repeat albums ‘Arabology’ by Y.A.S. and ‘An Evening in Beirut’ – how further in style and generations can you get, but they are both there in my heart.
And sorry for at times seeming to go on a tangent to what has been stated previously in the comments, but without Pirate Beirut, me in the UK, would not have been able to hear Y.A.S. or Soap Kills or Youmna Saba and all the other music promoted on this site. Yes, Pirate Beirut promoting Lebanese music to all the world and to someone like me who would never otherwise of heard all of this great music.
What Pirate Beirut is doing is a great service – it is stating “World! Look, Listen, Learn” to the Now sounds of Lebanon.
For only in times of change and flux and stress and tension do we find seeds of creativity being planted and then exploding into a form that has its roots in the place of its birth but at the same time diametrically opposite to any of existing past forms – this is what it seems to me, rightly or wrongly, so many thousands of miles away, is happening in Beirut.
Let this wonderful exuberance of sound flourish and allow me, via a site such as Pirate Beirut, to experience and gain pleasure at third hand as I am in no position to see and hear these musicians directly.
Thank you Pirate Beirut and thank you musicians of Lebanon.
i live in montreal, where can i possibly buy the album??
Come to Cairo please, I know the old city would fall in love with you guys
AMMAN IS WAITING FOR YOU !
If it wasn’t for this website, I would’ve never had the chance to listen to underground Arabic music; mashrou3 leila or all the others. It’s true that I downloaded the album but when someone really loves the music they would actually buy the CD the nearest chance they get (I know I would. Hell, I would buy stacks of their CDs and give them away for free)
However, now that the album is on Itunes, it is available for everyone. People pirate things all the time, its not the end of the world, but it could be a big deal for rising artists. Just keep that in mind.
downloaded already but…hope to buy it soon!!! hugs from spain, come to andalusia for a concert!!
Okay so I read a few of the comments and I honestly don’t know what you guys are mad for…
I think that I have to thank that site and that even the artists featured here should be thankful that they are.
I found out about this site after googling Mashrou’ Leila and I can assure you that I didn’t know more than half of the artists/bands around.
So before you open your mouth, think. Not only piratebeirut is offering you music without troubling yourself in the least bit, but they’re also providing a sort of fame to your favourite local artists.
If I had a band, it would be an honor to be known enough to be featured here. So, thank you, piratebeirut!
Stealing music is never right, but I’m Mexican of Lebanese descent and I can assure you if it weren’t for this site I would have probably never heard this complete album…
Hey I’m in Argentina and there’s no way I could ever heard of this band if it wasn’t for this site. Than you so much and people, instead of complaining so much go to the concerts buy their original t-shirts, that’s how the band earn money really, I wish I could get a t-shirt or something from them.
Im Attending Their Dubaaii Concert !
Amazing Work!! (:
the problem is…I’m Egyptian and these albums are not out on stores.
Oul enne mni7 !!!!!!WoWWWWWWWWWWWW
i <3 piratebeirut and all those amazing underground artists
Great idea .good work.u need some one to help u to take it to the next level .which is the u s a market.and good record label.and creative mind in a business suit manager.I have some ideas if u guys interested.ones again great music lyrics sound and performance.definitely unique and stands out amongst others.good luck for all.
Odličan nastup u Srbiji na Exit festu! :)
Nadam se da se ubrzo vidimo u Bosni. :)
why didnt you add the new released album ” El Hal Romacy” ?
We want to release it in high quality (VBR V0). If you want the low quality version (128kbps) you can find it on their official website :)
Where can I purchase the hard copy album?? It’s a gift and I want to buy the actualy cd, not download it. .?
virgin / cafe younes