DUBAI: 1969 was a milestone year for music. The Beatles released their final album, “Abbey Road”; Led Zeppelin released their eponymous debut album (and their second); a host of other artists released great LPs, including Neil Young, The Who, Sly & The Family Stone, and the Rolling Stones; and the legendary Woodstock festival took place. It was the height of the ‘Flower Power’ era and worldwide protest against the Vietnam War.
It was also the year when five Lebanese musicians formed one of Beirut’s leading cover bands, The Love Makers. Made up of brothers Henri, Boudi, and Georges Al-Hayek, along with friends Toni Ghamika and Shikrallah Shikrallah, they performed in Lebanon between 1969 and 1975, when civil war erupted.
“Before the war, Beirut was great. It was truly the Switzerland of the East,” Henri told Arab News. His son, historian Charles Al-Hayek, said, “The current Beirut doesn’t look like the old Beirut. It was a financial and cultural capital that was linked to all of these changes that were happening on a global scale.”
The band performed in Lebanon between 1969 and 1975, when civil war erupted. (Supplied)
The Love Makers entertained music lovers at the Mediterranean capital’s top hotels, clubs, restaurants, and festivals. Their multilingual repertoire consisted of songs by The Beatles, the Stones, Elvis Presley, and other icons. “We would go on for three to four hours without stopping,” recalled Henri.
The band’s name, though criticized, captured the era’s essence — one that was geographically borderless. “Don’t forget, it was the time of the sexual revolution,” noted Charles. “Most of the band members came from educated, Westernized families. . . The name fits into the context of Beirut’s modernity.”
The band later renamed themselves The Road, inspired by the thought that “we would continue despite the war. We’re going to go on the road,” said Henri. But as the country became more politically divided, and the war began, Lebanon’s music scene was also changing.
The Love Makers entertained music lovers at the Mediterranean capital’s top hotels, clubs, restaurants, and festivals. (Supplied)
“The band continued performing their music, which was for fun and leisure. But it was a challenge to continue,” noted Charles.
“I remember there were days we would hear the bombing when we were playing,” said Henri.
Decades later, the band still gets together to jam. In a well-received post on Charles’ Instagram account, “Heritage and Roots,” black-and-white images introduced followers to the band’s good old days. He hopes to produce interviews with the musicians, and a documentary of their forgotten history.
“Their story,” he wrote, “echoes an image of a different Beirut and Lebanon.”