Sunday, February 14, 2010

Of civilized minorities.

Recently, our Maronite patriarch called the Lebanese "Civilized minorities" - I was trying to see how this applied to the party going people of Gemmayze street (A street where the people living there organized a pyjama-and-pillow manifestation to indicate how restless in their sleep they were due to the pubs and clubs). The ministry of tourism has recently began a campaign to "civilize" those "rogue minorites" (Sound so Sarah Palinish, I know). I thought, that for a ministry, to use such a funky layout and creative copywriting, it was truly amzing. One problem however is that these slogans are twistings of songs that the current party-goers of Gemmayze are unfamiliar with.... So will the message strike home or will there be another Pyjama-and-pillow manifestation down the line?
Take "Do you really want to wake me" (Which is a spoof of Culture Club's "Do you really want to hurt me") or "Hush Hush" (The antidote for Tears For Fears' "Shout, shout"), or "No honking in the air tonight" (A dubious take on Phil Collins' "I can feel it in the air tonght"), or "We don't need no noise pollution" (Taken from Pink Floyd's "We don't need no education").... Then try to get a twenty something familiar with those originial songs.... Basically, a difficult if not an impossible task.

6 comments:

Soul of Sydney said...

Hey mate, well written post & great to see people blogging in Lebanon.

Are the images from a recent campaign? I was in Beirut late last year and didnt notice them anywhere

But your right about the residents of Gemayze, they wouldn't be getting too many good night sleeps that's for sure, its busy and noisy 6 nights a week.

But that's what you get for renting out your car spaces to hip bar owners with too many friends and loads more ideas.

some great spots there but,will be a shame if it ends but quiet I met some amazing people at Torinos and Gordot..

Tarek Chemaly said...

Actually, the campaign is very new - I suppose it couldn't have been launched earlier than two weeks ago....

lukewarm said...

Awww come on that's unfair I'm 22 and I got most of these :) I think they are really funky.

Tarek Chemaly said...

You could be the exception that proves the rule.

Unknown said...

Actually, Tarek, based on what sort of music tends to play at the bars in Gemaizeh (and elsewhere in Lebanon), and the number of remixes "In The Air Tonight", "Shout, Shout", and several other tracks used by the campaign, I would expect most of the young ‘hipsters’ that have made Gemaizeh their nightly home to be very aware of the references.

Especially those over 21...

(PS: I haven’t been frequenting Gemaizeh enough for the last few months. Is it still that loud at night?)

PeaceBoy24 said...

maybe Hush Hush was meant for PussyCatDolls' song...