Good indie music is hard to find. Even more so in Beirut, where the music scene seems to be exclusive to bubble-gum Arabic pop, or the headache inducing Billboard top 100 hits that are too overplayed to properly enjoy. So when you stumble across an artist like Allen Seif, you sigh in relief and thank god for saving you the pain of the constant Rihanna and Pitbull replays. <\/p>\n
Seif, who goes by Oak in the music world, has brought back the \u201caww\u201d to Beirut music. His hit single, \u201cThere Must Be a Reason (Your Lover Tonight)\u201d, has the rhythmic strumming akin to one of his biggest influences, Bob Dylan, and all the serenity of Neil Young. <\/p>\n
Oak has been playing music since his childhood, and has performed in Beirut, Paris, Sydney and Wellington, New Zealand. A born-Beiruti himself, he\u2019s glad to be making music back in his hometown. Arriving just in time to see the rise of the once underground indie scene in Beirut, Seif has noticed the subtle changes in the music trends. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like there\u2019s something emerging in Beirut,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I want to surf on that wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Seif comes from what he describes as a \u201cnot wealthy, working class family,\u201d it\u2019s indisputable that his fame stems solely from hard work and raw talent. He criticizes the massive gap between classes in Beirut. <\/p>\n
\u201cPoor people are busy making money,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have access to art and intellect if they\u2019re not above a certain level financially, and that\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an effort to bridge the gap and in collaboration with Beirut Jam Sessions, Seif\u2019s \u201cThere Must Be a Reason\u201d video takes place in Little Manila, a Philippine market off Hamra street. The video features many of the Phillipino workers on Sunday, their day off, and Seif relished the opportunity to entertain some of his favorite people in Beirut. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really improvised, but they seemed to like it,\u201d Seif said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a very racist country here\u2026 Me being there, singing to these people. I loved it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good indie music is hard to find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":633763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ai_generated_summary":"","_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[347],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-20611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-trending"],"authorship":[8],"yoast_head":"\n