Meen (band)
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MEEN () is a Lebanese
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band founded by Fouad and Toni Yammine in 2006. The band is best known for its humorous and sarcastic style, and most notably for performing in native Lebanese, not traditional Arabic.


Projects and involvements

In 2006, Meen had its very first concert at the
Saint Joseph University Saint Joseph University of Beirut (; French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', commonly known as USJ) is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Go ...
in
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, where, for the first time, the band performed for a small crowd of 300 people. Soon, the band was touring in other Lebanese Universities. Late 2006, Meen's single Banadoura was published in the Banadoura compilation, a Lebanese compilation featuring Lebanese underground music for the latest 20 years. In 2007, Meen wrote and released “Yalla Nerkoud”, the official song of that year's
Beirut Marathon The Beirut Marathon, is an annual event that takes place in Beirut, Lebanon, first held in 2003. It is a founding member of Asian Premier Marathons, and was accredited as a Silver Label Road Race by the IAAF. The marathons are managed by th ...
and performed the song on the finish line the day of the event. In 2008, the
An-Nahar ''An-Nahar'' () is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by ''The'' ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record for the entire Arab world. History and p ...
national newspaper contacted Meen and asked them to compose songs for the yearly memorial event of
Gebran Tueni Gebran Ghassan Tueni (; 15 September 1957 – 12 December 2005) was a Lebanese politician and the former editor and publisher of daily paper '' An Nahar'', established by his grandfather, also named Gebran Tueni, in 1933. He was assassina ...
. Meen wrote five songs for the event, and all were released as an album entitled “Adar el A7rar” (Destiny of the Free). Meen performed the songs live in an event that was broadcast live on all Lebanese TV stations. In 2009, the band released the album “Teer w 3aleh ya Balon” with 5 original songs composed and recorded for the children's play of the same name. In May 2009, the band performed in a big concert at the heart of the city at "theatre tournesol". This event was recorded and later released as a live album, on December 8, comprising thirteen original songs in pure Meen style. On the same date, Meen also released an 8 tracks studio Christmas album entitled "Min L Manjam 3al marrekh. In 2010, Meen was touring all around the country and performing in private and public events and festivals. In August 2011, Meen launched their album, 3arouset Bkeseen. In September 2016, Meen launched their latest album
Rishineh Bel Kalash
. This album by the Lebanese rock band MEEN features 13 songs.


Lyrics and songs topics

The band is best known for its humorous and sarcastic style, and most notably for performing in native Lebanese, adding a twist and a bit of flare to traditional rock music. As stated in numerous interviews, Meen fervently promotes the Lebanese dialect versus the culturally adopted traditional Arabic. The band members consider it only normal to sing in the spoken language of everyday conversations, even including the occasional English or French words that naturally occur in them. Their lyrics reflect this unique and rare approach. Meen’s song topics are varied and are usually quite mordant and sometimes critical of the political climate in Lebanon. In their single, “Kamlo l 7arb” (“Continue the War”), released in 2006, Meen mockingly sings on in a beautiful ballad “let the war carry on, and let the children die”. Another fan favorite, “Nasheed el Banadoura” (“Anthem of the Tomato”), invites people to use tomatoes as weapons for an artistic revolution.


Music and style

Meen's music style is purely western. Even though oriental instruments are occasionally used, like the buzuk, the riq, the
oud The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have ...
, and others, the music is mainly considered
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
/
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
, with a traditional
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
composition of two guitars, one
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
,
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, and a
synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
.


Creative Commons

Meen is the first Lebanese band to release its music under the
Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...
since 2006. The band has licensed its material as Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd).


Discography

* "Qamlo L 7arb" (single, 2006) * ''Meen Live'' (2009) * ''3arouset Bkeseen'' (2011) * ''Rishineh Bel Kalash'' (2016)


References and press interviews

Other interviews and reviews * * * * * * * * *
"Radio Interview"
on ''Voix Du Liban Radio'', Lebanon * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meen (Band) Lebanese rock music groups Musical groups established in 2006 Creative Commons-licensed works