‘Lakum ‘Adatkum wa-Lana al-Musiqa’ A critical engagement with the politics of identity, resistance and affect in Mashrou` Leila’s Music

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I explore how the Lebanese band, Mashrou` Leila, enacts resistance, negotiations and subversions through their lyrical and musical outputs, drawing on notions of ‘disidentification’ and ‘creative reckoning’. Through their music, I engage with questions of how marginalized bodies and citizens creatively negotiate and resist hegemonic identity configurations and notions of belonging. To that end, I conduct a close reading of the band’s musical lyrics, contextualize them and analyse their implications politically, socially and emotionally, illustrating the complex process of negotiating various layers of imposed identities and political interests. I particularly focus on their use and (re)imagining of history, language, and pop culture references. I argue that through their creative reckoning with hegemonic notions of belonging and identity, the band creates cultural spaces that enable the (re)imagining of identities, particularly with regards to gender and sexual identities.