Fewer people to play for

Every summer, people flock to the towns and remote areas of Lebanon for the festivals. Local residents anticipate those events for the publicity they bring to the area and for the obvious economic benefits to the restaurants and hotels there. This year, however, was not like the last. Ehdeniyat International Festival, Ehden’s annual summer festival, for example, was cancelled. “We were forced to take this decision a month ago,” says the festival’s media representative Joelle Hage, “when our international artists cancelled their contracts due to their worries about the unstable situation in North Lebanon.” Fortunately, since the festival was set for August no tickets were sold yet, but months of preparation went to waste. While some of the planned events like the Free Children’s Village will still take place, says Hage, the budget is now much lower and only local residents are expected to attend. Hage explains that Ehdeniyat is