This morning, at 3 am, my girlfriend and I arrived in Beirut. It has been a long awaited tour which was postponed several times. But now I am finally here! The rest of the musicians of the group of Rima Khcheich, Yuri, Joost and Maarten van der Grinten, Will arrive in 2 days. I had always wanted to bring my girlfriend to Beirut and I took this oppurunity to visit my favourite country in this part of the world.

I feel right at home. There is something about this country that I really love. It’s my home away from home. Maybe it is because of my close friendship with Rima and some of her close friends, maybe it is the culture, a very open and friendly version of the Arab world, the music, the food, the people… I just love being here.

Beirut is a wonderful city, the Paris of the Middle east as they call it. It has a charme and flair which is really appealing. Despite of all the political tensions here.

Our Hotel Cavelier is in the Hamra Street. One of the main shopping streets in Beirut. People are flandring throught the streets, enjoying the weather and the relatively peacefulness. it is hard to believe that only 2 weeks ago this street was the scene of the street riots which almost resulted in a new civil war. People were fighting with guns, rockets, tanks just here in the streets. Now it all seems forgotten. People of all possible orientations are browsing through the shops again, looking for summerclothes, shoes, hats. As if nothing happened. Maybe this is typically Lebanese, the ability to go on and continue to enjoy life. After al the wars and fights the last 25 years they still seem to know how to how to get past these difficult times.

The concerts in Lebanon with Rima Khcheich are postponed due to the tensions and agression recently. Unfortunately we have to delay the concerts until the situation is a bit more stable. We will keep you informed about the situation in Beirut.

A couple of days ago other upsetting news reached us as well. Jaipur, the city in Radjastan, India, where we recently had a beautiful concert with local musicians was shoken up by bomb attacks, killing 80 people. Only weeks ago we walked around in this city.

Only a couple of months ago we were in China where now tens of thousands of people were killed by earth quakes. Exactly in the area where we were.

At these moments the news which usually is not more than a distant reality comes frightenly close. At these moments you realise that we live in a turbulent time. Full of changes in climate, politics, leaders and views.

Next week is the official date for the presentation of our new CD Falak from Rima Khcheich. The concerts are to be held in Beirut, Lebanon. As you might have heard in the news the violence started again in the streets of beirut. Gunshots, explosions, fighting, burning cars and buildings are once again part of the streets of Beirut. Rima called me yesterday, in panic. “they started again! I hear gunshots and explosions!”. Rima was born and raised in the civil war of Beirut, was under attack of Israel nearly two years ago and now she, and everyone else in Lebanon, have to face the violence again. This beautiful, friendly and exciting country with the best music, food and wine from the middle east is torn to pieces again. Indecisive weak politicians, extremists, America, Israel, Syria, they all play a part in the faith of this great country. Does this ever end? I am feeling sad today that my friends over there have to endure war again.

For me these kind of things; war, violence and death were all very far away. On television, stories from the second world war from my grandparents and parents, but never this close and personal. Please watch this documentary from 2 years ago and feel what it is like to be a singer, and artist and live in a war…… again.

Met z’n vieren razen we in mijn oude volgepakte Ford Mondeo over de Duitse autobahn. Er is iets met mijn stuur wat af en toe uit zichzelf gevaarlijk naar links of rechts zwenkt. Vanavond spelen we met Wired Paradise in Neuburg an der Donau, een club diep in het Duitse Beieren. Ik heb er veel zin in. Eindelijk spelen we weer met deze band. Ik heb voor dit optreden meer dan 2 jaar moeten bellen met de nogal stugge clubeigenaar.
Het is vrijdag, de vakantie is begonnen en na 5 uur rijden lopen de wegen vast. We staan meer dan 2 uur letterlijk stil voor Würzburg, het is 7 uur en we moeten nog meer dan 200 kilometer rijden. Ons optreden begint om half 9. We nemen een B weg maar ook daar is het druk. In dorpjes staan we stil en ik begin me steeds meer te realiseren dat we na nu al bijna 12 uur in de auto te hebben gezeten we dit optreden (het enige goed betaalde optreden van de twee concerten die we dit weekeind in Duitsland spelen) gaan missen.
Het is 8 uur en we bellen de club. We mogen iets later beginnen. Het volgende uur bellen we om het kwartier de club opnieuw en proberen onze aanvangstijd telkens met 10 minuten te verlengen. Het lukt en de wegen worden leger.
Het laatste stuk snelweg (nog steeds 80 km) raas ik met het zwenkende stuur en stijve schouders door.
We komen om 5 voor 10 bij de club, bijna anderhalf uur later dan dat we moesten beginnen maar het publiek zit er nog en we spelen een goede lange set. Wat een dag.

We left this morning for Neuburg an der Donau. A 700 km trip by car. We left early leaving enough time to travel. But never underestimate the German highways. They seem to be working on them all year around and German traffic is even more hectic and busy than Dutch traffic. After a few mild traffic jams we were still not really worried until we hit Wurzburg… We spent two hours in the car watching the pavement not moving an inch. It was five now and we were suppose to play at 8.30. Still plenty of time. But suddenly now it’s seven and the German radio is giving no signs of a relieve. The road is blocked. We slowly start to panic. We call Frank Mobus the other guitar player who is traveling by train and who will be there in time. He’s at the club and they are getting worried now. We still have 200 km to go. We manage to get of the highway and take the national roads. Through little villages and also under heavy traffic. We really start to worry now and actually count on missing the concert. The last time that happened to us was 12 years ago, when we were traveling through Norway by camper. After 2 days of heavy snow and slipsliding the roads of Norway and Sweden we had a car accident 2 hours before the concert was supposed to start. When we arrive, 30 minutes late and still trembling from the shock of the accident, the organizer walks out and tells us that he already sent the audience home, which wasn’t that much work because there were only four people….. With this story in the back of our heads we are desperately pushing Joost’s old car to it’s limits. After eight o’clock most of the traffic is gone and we step on it. We finally arrive at 10 o’clock 2 hours late. Luckily the audience is still there and we promised them a cd each for waiting. People clap when we walk in and after 20 minutes of building up we start playing, no dinner, no drinks. Still we manage to play a good set with even a very nice encore. But what a day, after 12 hours of driving without a break playing a concert is something else. But at least we made it