Meet Arnabeat, the Lebanese band rocking the Middle East and Amsterdam

The Lebanese band Arnabeat has been rocking their way across the Middle East in the past few years, and more recently, performing in Europe. 

With the band set to release a single and an EP in the coming months, we caught up with the four guys behind the unique musical style and sound. We caught up with Paul, Hisham, Charbel and Eli, who told us a bit more about their influences, what drives the band and their forthcoming music.

Through time Lebanon was characterized by a diversity of cultures, traditions, and religions. Lebanese people fuse French, English and Arabic in one phrase. For some this is an identity crisis, for us this is who we are. 

We believe that we represent the people of this world. And with the diversity of backgrounds, interests, and different characters that we have in the band, we sometimes feel like we're a focus group whose objective is representing the world. So, what actually sets us apart is that we're not about to make music that only a certain community can relate to. We aim to create something for everyone in this world to relate to.

We started writing this EP three years ago. The Arabic text of one of the songs was actually written seven years ago. We edited the songs through the years, and we even changed the musical texture many times until we found a format that sounds like us.

Our inspiration is mainly our daily life in Lebanon and abroad. Inspiration can come from anywhere at any time, and the themes we write about are simple, daily life occurrences. Sometimes we use dark humor, and sometimes a more serious approach. 

Take as an example the lyrics of "Hana". You have a peaceful day away from any stress,  and then someone comes and crumbles your whole existence. In "What the Four", we chose to write about love, hate, dreams and ambition, youth's struggles and observations. We believe these topics will get the attention of the youth in the world. 

We don't know how much this EP will be accepted, but we put our hearts into it, and at least we are sure we are being honest to the people.

People ask us this question more than they ask about the apocalypse!  

Our art has beat in it, and that's what we do. If you put art and beat together, you get artbeat and Arnabeat makes the perfect pun. 

Arnabeat in Arabic means the cauliflower ... And three of us are vegans, so there you go.

I'm Paul,  co-founder and the guitarist. I feel the same way Michael Jordan feels about basketball, except I am not even close to being a Michael Jordan. I hit the gym every now then, I play basketball weekly, and I let cigars poison my blood every once in a while. I believe we mentioned that three of the band members are vegan and we're four. You know what am saying right?

I'm Hisham Hallak, co-founder of Arnabeat and also  writer, composer, and Arabic lead vocalist. I'm a fashion enthusiast. I have a thing for style that gives me a certain rush. The opportunity to shock others, giving them a weird first impression and a certain judgement just because of what you wear or what you like is something i just love. I live with lots of shapes, colors, words, and rythms inside my head. Sometimes I transform my thoughts into a painting, or into a song. And sometimes I would  break up with a girl I am dating, I really don't know how to explain that. But it's there, I see music in colors, in patterns, as much as I see patterns and colors in music. I see our existence marked by melodies and patterns. Every event in our life leaves us with a certain music in the back of our head and a defined color grade. I tend to be as resourceful as possible so I keep myself extremely busy. To me, being stable and relaxed are two things that should happen after our death not before. So untill then, I have plenty of work to do, plenty of knowledge to catch. And for having the opportunity to do so, I am so grateful and lucky.

I'm Charbel, pianist, songwriter, arranger, co-founder and lead vocalist of Arnabeat. I prefer notes over letters, which is only how you can understand me. Give me an idea, I’ll make it a melody. Give me a stage, I’ll explain the melody. Give me an audience, they’ll reflect all the energy. But don’t try to limit me, music is powerful in me. Whether a weird noise in a room or a mysterious animal squeaking in nature, any unusual sound would have my curiosity. This keenness for noises made it somehow perfectly natural for me to compose the way I do. I’d also go wherever a plane takes me, wandering about all the beautiful things each place implores me through nature, food and music, of course.

I'm Eli, co-founder of Arnabeat and my instrument is the bass. The stage for me is a low gravity zone. Put me on a stage and I am happy. No stage? Fine, put me in the midst of nature where the universe keeps its magic and energy, and that's all I would need to be happy. I'm intolerant to perfection and I hate brand new shoes. I'd be taking a pair of shoes straight from the box to a hike so I can at least feel comfortable looking at it. That's it I guess.  I am all about nature, environment, healthy living and fitness. Oh, and I am an animal lover.

See, every show we put out there is like a rebirth to each and every one of us. The party that happens on that stage, with the chemistry we have among us, combined with the insane crowd interaction, is something euphoric. Each performance touches us in a way that is actually hard to describe. We are in love with the people, and we do what we do for them, because it is as much of an experience to us as it is to them. 

Amsterdam was something beautiful, because of the surprise we had. We went there not knowing if people are showing up or not. Before we hit the stage, some fans were at the backstage door requesting to come in so we can take pictures together. We're used to that in the Middle East but in Europe? It felt great!

When we went on that stage and saw that the place was full, and people from all around Europe and the Arab world came specially to see us, we can't lie, it was a shock. Europeans were singing "Leh Ya Hana" man ... You don't see that every day.

We come from different musical backgrounds. We have lots of influences, some of them are Lebanese, and from our generation. To us, supporting each other as Arabic bands and rising artists is something essential. So yeah, we support and follow many of the Lebanese and Arabic performers from our generation.

Mashrou' Leila is one of the great bands, and they've had significant success  in 11 years. But Lebanon always had its share when it comes to Indie music. Have you heard of the Sea-ders? An original Lebanese band established in the 60's! 

We do not actually consider ourselves an indie rock band. We don't want to be framed or labeled. We want to speak to the world. That is more like us. "Leh Ya Hana" is a song anyone can listen to and sing along with, regardless of their age, language, interest or background. That's more like us. Again, we want the world to relate!

We're currently focused on releasing a single by the end of September, which will pave the way to the EP release in November. That's what is keeping us busy right now. We have a lot for the future, and we hope that the future has a lot for us too.