Int'l cellist stands in solidarity with Mashrou' Leila during final act

Though Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila's concert at this year's Byblos International Festival was canceled, the band still managed to take center stage at one of its events. 

Over the weekend, Chinese-American musician Yo-Yo Ma performed his scheduled concert at the festival but made sure to object to the cancelation of the Lebanese band's concert in his very own way. 

In a poignant tribute to the group - whose concert was canceled after its music was attacked by fundamentalist Christian groups - the cellist closed his show with one of the band's songs, Tayf.

The cellist legend didn't only perform the song at the festival, he also played a rendition of it while visiting the American University of Beirut (AUB). 

Mashrou' Leila acknowledged the musician's gestures on social media, retweeting videos of him performing their track on Twitter. 

Yo-Yo Ma isn't the only star who stood in solidarity with the group. Earlier this month, the Dutch metal band Within Temptation announced their decision to pull out of the Byblos International Festival in solidarity with the Lebanese group. In a statement on its official Facebook page, the band said it had to cancel the show - which was scheduled for Aug. 7 - "in support of tolerance, freedom of speech and expression."

At the time, the Dutch band was hailed for its decision just as the Chinese-American musician is now being acknowledged for taking a stand on the matter. 

The cancelation of the Lebanese band's concert came a week after a number of fundamentalist Christian groups threatened and warned the musicians against performing in Jbeil (Byblos). 

These groups claimed the band's music insults Jesus and the Bible. Mashrou' Leila was also accused of "blasphemy" from the Catholic Church and various social media groups (one of which has been blocked on Facebook) with regards to two songs, Djin and Asnam.

The band ultimately removed the songs from its Facebook and Youtube accounts. In a statement on the matter, Jbeil city's Maronite Archdiocese condemned the now-canceled concert.  

"After looking at the goals of Mashrou' Leila and the content of the songs it performs, which affect religious and humanitarian values as well as Christian sanctities, the Maronite Archdiocese of Jbeil strongly condemns the concert," the group said. 

The group also called for the "suspension of Mashrou' Leila on the land of holiness, civilization and history." It added that it left further action against the band up to the Catholic Information Center. 

The attack against the four-member band, whose lead singer Hamed Sinno is openly gay, didn't stop. In addition to being interrogated by Lebanon's public prosecution, they also received blatant death threats. On July 24, the authority took in two band members for a six-hour interrogation. 

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), State Security officers forced them to pledge to remove and "sensor content on their social media accounts." 

"Such pledges violate the band members' right to free speech, given that Lebanese lawyers agree that they are unconstitutional and have no legal basis," HRW said.

The band was forced to take these pledges even though Mount Lebanon's prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun released its members without charges following their questioning. In response to the decision to drop them from Byblos International Festival, Mashrou' Leila released a statement to reassure the public that their songs do not offend anyone's beliefs. 

The way they were treated left hundreds appalled, especially given the fact that they'd previously performed at the same festival twice — one time in 2010 and another in 2016. 

In 2017, the Lebanese band performed to a sold-out crowd in Egypt. Following the concert, Egypt's Musicians syndicate said it will ban the band from performing in the country again, and arrested seven people for raising rainbow flags - which authorities referred to as the "flag of homosexuals" - during the concert. 

The individuals were detained under charges of "promoting sexual deviancy" and "inciting immorality." That same year, Mashrou' Leila's scheduled performance in Jordan was put to a halt, despite the fact that the members had been granted approval from the country's tourism ministry and obtained all necessary licenses. 

Tens of ministers and members of parliament had reportedly signed a petition against the performance, only to be followed by an official decision by the ministry of interior. It came a year after Jordanian authorities decided to ban the band from performing in Amman, announcing the decision only a few days before the concert was set to take place on April 29, 2016.

While the band continues to be banned from performing in the Arab world, it's touring the world with its music and is scheduled to perform across the U.S. and Canada in the next two months.