| Ahmad Kaabour
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"... When I composed songs as a teenager,
war was raging in Lebanon like a roll of dice and I felt like a grown up man already, but thank God
I was not a soldier, more like a man of leisure who seeks the universal truths
in mankind.
Love and games are my passion that I try to represent in my playful music.
And women too, these beautiful creatures that enlighten our lives. Oh, women, you gave me so
much pleasure and pain. But card games gave me almost as much.
We have to give a meaning to our lives and enjoy if we can.
Let posterity decide how we will be remembered... " |
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Lebanon, in the long form Republic of Lebanon, Lubnan or Al Jumhuriya in Arabic is a state in the Middle East, that shares borders with Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south. It is bordered by the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Beirut is its capital. The official language is Arabic, with a significant use of the French language. The national currency is the Lebanese pound.
The earliest traces of settlement in Lebanon date back to 5000 BC. Archaeologists discovered Byblos, which is considered the oldest village in the world, remnants of prehistoric huts, primitive weapons, and several jars of clay, which appear to date from Neolithic times, when several fishing communities lived on the borders of the Mediterranean. Lebanon was the homeland of the Phoenicians, the maritime adventurous people who for centuries dominated the Mediterranean trade and established trading posts such as Carthage and Cadiz. After 200 years of Persian rule, Alexander the Great attacked and besieged Tyre in 332 BC. Since that time and until its independence in 1943, the country was ruled by several foreign powers, the Persians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, the Ottoman Empire and the French.
Under the Roman republic were built numerous temples and game arenas. Horse racing activities were the most popular of these games in Lebanon, but in this period, only the athletic competition are well documented. It was a sports festival neighborhood. Boxing and running was also on the agenda. All five were held in the so-called circus. Regarding horse racing, there was a debate about whether the horses were harnessed, mounted, or both. Chariot races were the most essential element in sports to the program of these games. Spectators were involved in having gambling and betting took place to determine the winners. These games were the precursors of today's horse racing and sports betting. There were no casino, but the people loved all sorts of games including games of money, such as dice and card games, but not poker as it was invented many centuries later.
Considered at a time as the Switzerland of the Middle East, Lebanon shares with it besides its mountains and its banking system, an intensive refinement that usually develops in a country serving the financial and cultural hubs. The reason is partly historical. The Crusaders who had taken a liking to the climate of Lebanon quickly learned that the Koran prohibits lending at interest. Eastern Christianity had no objection to that, and funding needs that exist in all countries of the world, so they developed the banking and finance. The Church is independent of Rome since the twelfth century and it contributed significantly to the import of Western culture in Lebanon. From 1850, they settled in cities where Sunnis and Greek Orthodox already cohabited. Lebanese culture has enriched and, at the discretion of the geographical proximity of religious communities, the contributions of immigration and French and American influences. The keystone of the Lebanese culture has long been the development of tolerant and cosmopolitan cities.
