A chat with Mashrou' Leila lead singer Hamed Sinno
Mariah Cooper
Washington Blade
Since its 2008 conception, Mashrou’ Leila have used their music to bring human rights issues, particularly LGBT rights, to the forefront.
The five-member group, gearing up for a sold-out show at the Hamilton on Monday, June 13, formed in Beirut, Lebanon at the American University of Beirut. Lead vocalist Hamed Sinno, 28, says the band members cite all different types of music as their inspiration. Their eclectic musical taste doesn’t just stop with music, but continues into their subject matter.
Sinno, who is gay, has written songs unheard of for a Middle Eastern band like “Shim el Yasmine,” a song about Sinno’s desire to introduce a man as his groom to his parents. Songs with that kind of content led to authorities in Jordan banning Mashrou’ Leila from performing in the country forever, but the ban was lifted a few days later.
Changing hearts and minds is no easy feat, but the group’s progressive views received validation when Lebanon became the first Middle Eastern country to declassify homosexuality as a disease in 2013.
Speaking with Washington Blade from Chicago, Sinno talked about being an out Arab, his personal connection to D.C., and his thoughts on Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON BLADE: When you started Mashrou’ Leila, was it your intention to become so political or did it just happen?
HAMED SINNO: To be honest, I think we’re just like that as people. From the very beginning we’re all just interested in politics, social theory and philosophy. I think also it’s part of what your early ‘20s is like for a lot of people. Essentially when you’re starting out you only know how to write about whatever organically comes to mind. You don’t sit down and say, “I want to write about subject X so I need to do my research and write about it.” It’s just writing about what you’re already thinking about. I guess typically like a lot of people in their early ‘20s, we were thinking about politics and looking for ideology and trying to understand the world around us.
BLADE: Did you ever expect drastic actions like being banned in Jordan?
SINNO: From Jordan in particular, no. From other places, yeah. Jordan has really advanced faster than other places in the region. So it was a little shocking.
BLADE: There are so few openly gay Arab artists out there that kind of by default you became a gay Arab icon. Do you ever feel pressured by that?
SINNO: The only pressure that comes out of that is when people get the impression that there is some sort of representation that needs to happen with that. That’s not really the way I see it. The way I see it is more non-heterosexuals or queer people need to find their place in history and the cultural perception in the region, but it can never become one of those issues where someone pretends to speak for other people. I find that completely off base. Which I guess is why the pressure doesn’t really affect me that much. I don’t pretend to speak for the queer community in any way other than being myself and doing my thing and asking me for what I deserve.
BLADE: Have you ever written a song and thought, “This song is too controversial maybe we shouldn’t release it?”
SINNO: No. At the end of the day it’s one thing to sing about certain subjects, but it’s another thing to take direct action. I think that barrier should never be forgotten. When we’re talking about songs, or any other art form, we’re really not talking about things that really do end up affecting things directly. It’s one thing to sing about women’s rights; it’s another thing to actually get women’s rights going. I’m not one to think that anything should or shouldn’t be said. Also, I don’t think we’ve touched on anything that’s like really that sensitive for us. We’ve never had that thing where we’re in the studio composing and stop and think, “Oh wait this is too risqué.” Whatever we write about it really standard for us.
BLADE: Do you follow American politics at all? What do you think of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign?
SINNO: What campaign? I don’t see a campaign. I just see a bigot.
BLADE: Have you ever been to D.C. before?
SINNO: I haven’t. I’ve heard lovely things about D.C. and I’m so excited to see it. My parents hung out there a lot because my mom was at George Washington University for school and met my dad in D.C. But they have all these stories they told me when I was a kid, so it’s exciting to finally get to see it.
BLADE: What can people expect from your show?
SINNO: Just the same thing you can expect from any sort of Arabs in America. So basically Islamic Fundamentalists preaching and terror threats. No, honestly I just want people to have fun at our concerts and not be so simplistic about the Arab world. That would be great to feel like we’re not getting lumped into racial categories.
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