Beirut Biloma

chillout

Beirut is Arabia’s gate to the world (especially the western world). Beirut Biloma is the cutting-edge sound of Arabia - the meeting and fusion of Arabia’s authentic sounds with international music, especially chillout, dance, & R&B; and like many creatively adventurous international acts it features promising and exciting talents: singers, DJs, arrangers, and musicians. It was towards the end of the second millennium, around 1999, that a new sound was born in Beirut, influenced by international dance music. It was “Mazaj”. As the word in Arabic means, it is mood, and so the song was in every dimension. It was simply without words, just mood expressed through haunting Arabic vocalizations by the Lebanese soprano Oumeima over a sweet melodic hook and dance beats fused with some Arabic flavors. “Mazaj” became the millennium anthem for the Beirut clubs DJs and was to later be the platform inspiring and influencing a new genre and generation of dance acts. “Mazaj”, was written by the composer Hani Siblini, and produced by Mohamad Kebbe. It was the hit of Oumeima’s album, of which its first single was signed by EMI Music Arabia’s A&R Dergham Owainati in 1999. In 2000 Mohamad composed and produced the enigmatic dance anthem “Drive me to Beirut”, which was to be released in several mixes on white label independently in 2001 in Beirut under the name Biloma. The name was inspired by Mohamad’s two sons: Bilal and Omar. This single was to be the highest new e...