Cultures of Resistance

Bebop in Baalbeck – The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band Live in Lebanon recounts a fascinating encounter in the summer of 2005, when The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band performed in ancient Roman ruins at the 50th Anniversary Baalbeck International Festival in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

We traveled to Lebanon expecting no more than a first-rate jazz concert performed in a strange country that most Americans never think about unless bombs are falling in Beirut. What we witnessed was a meeting of kindred spirits - cultural freedom fighters from vastly different cultures, united by the universal language of music in a defiant expression of resistance against the darker forces of conflict and oppression.

The Baalbeck Festival staffers were extremely gracious hosts, and extremely courageous in their perseverance. For fifty years that have struggled to present an annual festival of culture and arts in a country periodically decimated by the ravages of war and sectarian strife. They have remained fiercely apolitical and non-partisan, despite tremendous pressure from all sides. Every year, the Baalbeck Festival fights to present the transcendent beauty of art and music, and for them, jazz is the music of freedom.

The artists in the Big Band (including some of the world's greatest living jazz musicians) performed boisterous American music that itself is rooted in centuries of African-American pain and struggle, and they played for a wildly enthusiastic audience struggling once again to rise above its own pain and turmoil to re-join the world community.

We have documented the consummate example of the power of music and art to transcend cultural differences. The best summary of this wondrous event came from the stage at the Temple of Bacchus, as the Baalbeck Festival Committee introduced the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band: " We would like to thank all of you on, around, behind and facing the stage for once again allowing music to triumph over fear and ignorance"

CREDITS:

For More Information, please contact:
Jim Brennan - Producer-Director; Bebop in Baalbeck
jimbrennan9@hotmail.com
Cell 214-455-9543 (USA)"

Special Thanks To:

Festival International de Baalbeck
Mme. May Arida, President
Dr. Khalil Sinno
Mr. Joseph Chemali
Mr. Avo Tutunjian

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band
Mr. Slide Hampton - Musical Director
Mr. John Lee - Executive Director

Clap Productions, Beirut
Mr. Tony Abou Elias

Panasonic

Moondog Edit
Editor - Paul La Calandra
Joe McKay
Peter Kasko
Bernadette Quinn