Beards, beards everywhere.
Mashrou' Leila (Arabic: مشورع ليلى) is a electro-alternative-rock band from Beirut, Lebanon. Formed in 2008, Mashrou' Leila is composed of five members, and mostly sings in Standard or Lebanese Arabic. Mashrou' Leila is well-known in the Middle East and further for their articulate and culturally resonant lyrics, satirizing and criticizing Lebanese politics and society.
The band has five studio albums to date, with the sixth currently in production.
Leila's Tropes:
- Alternative Rock: Mashrou' Leila's official genre.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- Mashrou' Leila means "Leila's Project," but it also means "One Night Project;" Leila is both a female given name and the Arabic singular form of "night."
- This line from "Djinn"note :Liver baptized in gin
I dance to ward off the djin
- Break Up Song:
- "Fasateen"note
- "Shim el Yasmine"note
- Bury Your Gays:
- the plots of "Tayf"note and "Ashabi."note
- "Maghawir" is about a shooting in a gay club in Beirut.
- Cover Version: "غدًا يومٌ أفضل" (lit: Tomorrow is a Better Day) is a cover of "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz with the lyrics changed as the band's way of supporting the sentiments of The Arab Spring.
- Daddy Issues: "3 Minutes"
- Darker and Edgier: Ibn El Leilnote (2015) is full of mourning and angst, Sinno having written many of the songs on the album dealing with his grief about his father's death.
- Dark Is Not Evil: "Bahr"note
- Electronic Music: the band makes use of synths, to very exquisite effect.
- Gayngst: many of the songs on Ibn El Leil.
- Death Song: "Bahr;" see below.
- Grief Song:
- "Bahr" tells the story of a very poignant and painful loss.
- "Abdo" is about a man in a neighborhood/village called Abdo who is head over tits in love with a widow, but she will never reciprocate his feelings because she buried her heart with her dead husband. She rejected the man so bad he was too broken to love again.
- Despite its upbeat-ness, "Djin" can be interpreted as such; Hamed Sinno fell into a deep depressive-alcoholic spiral following the death of his father.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Inverted in "Imm el Jacket,"note Hamed mistakes a girl who dresses masculine-ly, acts freely and goes out at night for a gay guy.
- Intercourse with You: "Kalam"note and "Asnam."note
- Jazz: "Bahr" has many jazzy elements.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Djinn" is about drinking to forget your sorrows, but it has an incredibly cheery tune.
- Protest Song: "Lil Watan" is about how governments create distractions from their own mismanagement and injustice and how they place obstacles in the face of those wanting to participate in politics to have their opinions and grievances known.
- Self-Titled Album: their debut album, Mashou' Leila.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Most of Mashrou' Leila's songs are pretty cynical, but they also have idealist gems.
- Socialism: Invoked in "El Hal Romancy" note :تزوجنى و أقرأ أنجلز فى سريرى note
