Physically distant as I was from the accusations, they nonetheless were sufficient to poison my mood with disappointment and to fill me with bitterness. According to the Attorney s claim, I am threatened, along with all of those exposed by the investigation, with a punishment of six months to three years in prison. It was not easy to perform that night. Nonetheless, with strong faith and a sense of responsibility, we managed to overcome our bad state of mind and remained true to our mission. The Brooklyn Museum performance was our statement of outrage.
Music is our only weapon, and it sometimes seems terribly ineffective and weak.
One is deceived by the thought of a vast homeland only to be faced with a narrow road, and by the dreams of the individual, only to be smothered by the clan. Touring through this land of modernity, the American melting pot, I thought of our Lebanese clans and religious sects. I have long feared the fate of this world divided by factions, and felt obliged to write music for love, liberty and progress, and for a dream country that is a homeland for Man, rather than for sects and clans. I left the clan and chose the urban life of modern cities to avoid such deceptions. At the end of the night, I looked for a dream that would ease my sorrow, and found it nowhere but in the eyes of my fellow countrymen who fall dead everyday in the downtrodden South of Lebanon.