“Waynik Ya Beirut” (Where Are You, Beirut) is a new song by Lebanese singer-songwriter Aziza made to echo the Lebanese sentiment of anger and sadness from the catastrophic explosions that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020. It was also imagined to provide an anthemic call for real, systemic change, a unifying rally scream that goes beyond corrupt politics and into the very heart of every Lebanese citizen. “After I barely escaped the explosion site myself, I wanted the battered, the angry, the hopeless, all the people who have had enough of the same old cycle of petty divisions and shallow excuses to hear their emotions and recognize their own experience in this song,” says Aziza, “I want everyone to see in this song an emotional journey that is theirs, that is ours, and that starts in sadness and ends in resolve and hope.”

The project started on the next morning of the Beirut explosions. Initially inspired by Rabih Alameddine’s oped in the Washington Post, “As Beirut mourns, our failed leadership looks for someone to punish. I say they must all go,” Aziza and her team poured all their anger and sadness into lyrics and sounds that try their best to echo the sentiment and experience of the people of Beirut. The result, written, composed, and recorded in 5 days, is a small musical journey into the heart. The first part of the song is bewilderment and sadness; the disorientation from trying to understand what just happened, followed quickly by the realization that Beirut is gone. The second part leaves space for the anger, and the resolve to scream “enough!” to every excuse and consolation mechanism that numb us from decades of systemic corruption and political failures. Finally, the song ends on a note of hope, in the voice of children, a call for real change and self-determination.

“Waynik Ya Beirut” was written and composed by Aziza, and made with the generous contribution of time and resources by a lot of friends who came together rapidly and organically to get this done. In the spirit of healing through music, Aziza and her team call on anyone inspired and able to contribute to donate to Lebanon’s NGOs.

• For enquiries, please contact waynikyabeirut@gmail.com

This project is more than a song. In the spirit of healing through music, the Waynik Ya Beirut team invites everyone to TALK about Beirut, especially when the headlines are gone. If you are willing and able to SUPPORT, please consider volunteering or donating to one of the Lebanese NGOs contributing day and night to the reconstruction of Beirut and the material and mental aid of its people: