It’s not surprising for the Nabu Museum’s management, which chose Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani for its inaugural concert, to continue presenting the finest and greatest musical and artistic performances within its premises.
We speak of Nabu Museum, located in Chekka/El Heri, North Lebanon.
In 2018, Nabu Museum initiated its series of musical evenings featuring Ziad Rahbani, an event that attracted fans of Rahbani from various areas. These enthusiasts gathered to cheer and sing along with a collective of artists, all backed by his band.
The museum’s management including Jawad Adra and Zeina Akar Adra, continued to welcome leading artists and musicians for gatherings and musical nights at the museum. Among these was a complimentary concert by Les Cordes Résonnantes, in partnership with “The Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut” in July 2023, themed “Baroque at the Museum.” This event featured an evening of seventeenth-century classical Baroque music, with performances by mezzo-soprano Natasha Nassar under the direction of Joe Dou.
Additionally, Nabu Museum hosted a concert titled “Vivaldi – The Four Seasons,” designed and conducted by maestro Harout Fazlian with narration by Julia Kassar, supporting cultural activities that enhance Lebanon’s leading role in creativity and development.
This concert coincided with an exhibition of sculptures and artworks titled “Drawings That Left a Mark” by Lebanese artists and “Modern and Contemporary Sculptures from Lebanon” in the museum’s garden and halls.
In an interview with “MTV,” museum co-founder Jawad Adra stated that the original concept aimed at developing a center for research and training dedicated to preserving valuable heritage and promoting scientific inquiry. This vision transformed, with the collective focus shifting towards the creation of a new museum in El Heri, diverging from the private initiatives common along the Lebanese coast since the early twentieth century. The aspiration was for this project to become an exemplar in reigniting hope among individuals.
Jawad Adra added in his speech, “On September 22, Nabu Museum was inaugurated, and its first exhibition was ‘Centuries of Creativity’… During the opening, Ziad Rahbani and his band took us on a magical musical journey, and today Harout Fazlian and the musical group along with Ms. Julia Kassar take us through the ‘Four Seasons’ with Vivaldi, followed by the second exhibition ‘Drawings That Left a Mark’ by Lebanese artists who left an indelible name or mark. Today comes an exhibition for Lebanese sculptors as the first exhibition in the ‘Nanaya’ sculpture garden, in cooperation with Nabu Museum.” Adra continued, “If we reconsider the twentieth century and the beginnings of the twenty-first century, historical awareness reveals to us the magnitude of disasters that struck the world and how they cast their shadows on the twenty-first century, starting from the Balfour Declaration, the Palestinian tragedy, and the massacres of the two World Wars, to the wars of dominance in East Asia and South America, the atomic bombs in Japan, the Lebanese civil war, and wars of destruction and looting of the artifacts in Iraq and Syria, which form a series of atrocities committed by man, showing the world as a collection of migrants, exiles, and prisoners.”
Adra hopes we possess the bravery to confront the harshest challenges that may arise, concerning human dignity, the environment, and our obligations. Seen through this lens, art and artistic creation not only reflect our current state and hardships but also stand as a defiance against the forces of exile, destructive conflicts, and displacement imposed upon us. In doing so, we aspire to connect with a new homeland that we envision through words and images.
Ending on Adra’s note, it’s indicated that Jawad Adra and his partner in managing Nabu Museum, Zeina Akar Adra, consider art as a mode of resistance and survival. Therefore, Nabu Museum, in collaboration with City Theater, launched a solidarity week with Gaza last January under the title “Peace to Gaza,” featuring theatrical, cinematic, and musical dance performances. Alongside the evenings, financial donations were collected for the “Ghassan Abu Sitta Children’s Fund,” recently initiated by Jawad Adra, Fidaa Jadid, and Badr Al-Hajj.
Nabu Museum provides a venue for displaying art and acts as a hub for keeping communities engaged with their culture via educational initiatives, training workshops, organized excursions, public talks, and curated exhibitions.
Summary:
It’s not surprising for the museum’s management, which chose Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani to open its first act, to continue presenting the finest and greatest musical and artistic performances within its premises. We talk about Nabu Museum, located in Chekka/El Heri, North Lebanon…
Zeina Akar Nabu Museum Management
