2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Mashrou’ Leila is a Lebanese Arab Pop band that has defied the trends of Arab music culture reaching crowds beyond Middle-Eastern borders. With lead singer Hamed Sinno of gay social-activist background, they’ve never been shy about taking controversial stances against the Arab establishments and tearing up conventions of Arabic pop. Through their songs, they’ve brought social taboos to the forefront of social conversations. They’re an independent self-funded band, making their budgets very minimal. The work was done by engaging artists to participate and with a humble production budget.

The Brief

“Ibn el Leil” or “Son of the Night” is the band’s fourth album, it is a tipping point in their musical career launching the band well beyond regional forums. The album brings forward their love of the night and all the decadence that lurks in the darkness. Despite the songs being in Arabic, the band has acquired an international fan-base. With an album based on a universal experience, the night, they wanted to go beyond the music and create a unifying experience.

How the final design was conceived

We identified an insight. The youth of the Middle-East feel liberated at night, as opposed to the day when they conform to a traditional, conservative society. We wanted the album launch to serve a unifying experience for the youth around the night. We created “The Cult of the Night”. We crafted Mashrou Leila’s album art “Ibn el Leil” (Son of the Night) to serve as a cult-initiation transcript introducing followers to the deity of the night, its beliefs, rituals, and chants. We invited 15 Lebanese Artists to participate in creating the motion graphics for the cult’s first ceremony, the album launch concert at the Barbican, London. The artists interpreted the night in their own way by submitting provocative raw footage of the night that would serve as the visual experience during the band’s performance. The concert was broadcasted live on satellite TV in the entire middle east and online In parallel, we launched a party at Beirut’s infamous Behind the Green Door to initiate the soon-to-be followers to the cult. At the peak of the concert, the live transmission was hijacked by this party where a dancer posing as the deity of the night made an appearance, his face shielded by a Hyena mask.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The graphics were a collaboration of local artists’ different interpretations of the night in Beirut, it brings forward the unseen intricacies that hide in the darkness, the escapism and the sense of immortality that arise past sunset. A visual representation of “The Cult of the Night” The footage is symbolic of the 5 stages of the night reinterpreted differently by the artists: 1. The Preparation 2. The Warmup 3. The Procession 4.The Ceremony 5. The Sacrifice The film also features a live feed party in Beirut’s infamous Behind the Green Door where the god of the night made an appearance, his face shielded by a Hyena mask symbolizing the scavengers of the night. These visuals allowed for the concert that was taking place in London to still be very representative of Beirut and allowed the fans at Barbican to feel connected to Lebanon, for fans in the Arab countries it made them feel relevant to the band