In Houston, a healing festival for deeply divided Lebanon
I could hear the music three blocks away.
The same warbling strains of Arabic played in Beirut taxi cabs or sung at clifftop weddings along Lebanon’s coast.
Only this time, the music came from a stage at Jones Plaza, played by a live band to a crowd of dancers ranging in age from toddlers to grandparents. The accessory of choice were Lebanese flags, tied like capes around the dancers’ shoulders. The patriotism on display rivaled even that of a Texas country music concert.
If turnout is indicative of success, then the third annual Houston Lebanese Festival held this weekend was a triumph.
But the event’s path to popularity was improbable.
Lebanon is known for its biblical history, ski slopes and diverse but deeply divided population, exacerbated by a 15-year civil war that lasted until 1990. The country has 18 religious sects. And those are further splintered by political parties, which resonate, even 7,000 miles away in Houston.
Lili Bejjani, the owner of Houston restaurant Cafe Lili, wanted to change that.
Bejjani, who moved to Houston on Thanksgiving Day in 1970, started a nonprofit that evolved into the American Lebanese Cultural Center, the group that puts on the annual festival.
It took more than 20 years of trying, but, in 2014, Bejjani’s plans took off when she connected with about a dozen immigrants newer to Houston. They had come around 1990, in the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War.
They were a diverse group, representing half a dozen of Lebanon’s religious sects and working in industries ranging from hospitality to medicine and oil and gas. They got along by leaving politics and faith out of their meetings, said Fadi Dimassi, one of the founders and current chair of the annual festival.
Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle
