In this episode of Quartertones, musician, architect and urban researcher Mayssa Jallad joins us in the afikra studio in Beirut to talk about her latest, deeply researched work “Marjaa: Battle of the Hotels”. The album brings together her passion for music and her background in urban research and architectural history. 

She recounts her interest in buildings and her relationship to her city, Beirut. She shares how the album was born out of her Historic Preservation master’s thesis, and gives the critical historical context to the “Battle of the Hotels” after which the album is named: a five-month long battle that took place in Beirut between Oct 1975 and March 1976, and the world’s first “urban battle”. 

Maysaa Jallad is a Lebanese singer, songwriter and urban researcher based in Beirut. 

Connect with Mayssa 👉https://www.instagram.com/mayssajallad/?hl=en

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

Hosted by: Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK

Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl7FiLcdH_iSgv4RiXEy4GAh

ABOUT AFIKRA

afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.

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