‘Starring in French, International Play is Universal Opportunity’: Hiba Tawaji Tells Asharq Al-Awsat

Hiba Tawaji. PHOTO/CHAMOUN DAHER/ CEDARS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS/AFP.
Hiba Tawaji. PHOTO/CHAMOUN DAHER/ CEDARS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS/AFP.
TT

‘Starring in French, International Play is Universal Opportunity’: Hiba Tawaji Tells Asharq Al-Awsat

Hiba Tawaji. PHOTO/CHAMOUN DAHER/ CEDARS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS/AFP.
Hiba Tawaji. PHOTO/CHAMOUN DAHER/ CEDARS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS/AFP.

Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji has been celebrating the warm welcome she has received in New York with the group of the “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” play, in which she plays the main female role.

Since the debut of the play on July 13, and at the end of every show, the audience stands and applauds for several minutes to express their appreciation. At New York’s David Koch Theater, Hiba Tawaji plays the main female character in the play, Esmeralda, the charming gypsy, alongside Angelo Del Vecchio, who plays the bell ringer, hunchback Quasimodo.

During an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Hiba Tawaji said she is thrilled to play such a great role on one of the most prominent stages in the world, noting that she’s set to perform 13 shows until July 24, which means she performs twice a day sometimes. But this doesn’t bring her down. On the contrary, “the audience is showing delightful enthusiasm, applaud, and await us outside the theater to take pictures with us. This really touches me and the group, and gives us more motivation,” she said.

Lebanese musician Oussama al-Rahbani who is currently in New York and attended the debut show, described the warm welcome as “amazing”, noting that the audience applauded for 10 minutes for the actors after the first show. “Hiba’s performance was breathtaking, and the abundant congratulations and motivations will make her more focused on the work.” According to Rahbani, many known figures and artists attended the show, including Yuja Wang, one of the world’s greatest pianists, who congratulated Hiba and took a picture with her.

Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was turned into a play 25 years ago. Hiba Tawaji was selected to play Esmeralda in 2016, after it was performed by French star Helene Segara. The role opened the door wide for her to stand on the world’s best stages. From Paris’ Palais des Congrès six years ago, Hiba Tawaji started her tours with “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”.

“We performed in Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, Belgium, Switzerland, and we made a large tour in Taiwan and China. People really love this play. Our top three tours were in Canada and London’s West End. Then, it was the turn of New York, but the play was postponed twice due to the pandemic. Our New York tour was supposed to take place a few years ago,” the Lebanese singer said.

“New York is a city of art, culture, and musicals, it’s full of life and celebrations. To be in such an entertaining, cultural capital is highly significant for me and the group. We feel great to see the audience clapping that much after each performance,” she added.

From a Lebanese singer who shined on the Rahbani theater and built a unique team with Osama al-Rahbani, Tawaji moved to perform in The Voice France, and then to starring in “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, which led her to New York. Hiba Tawaji said her journey wasn’t that easy. “Before ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’, I performed a musical, ‘The Return of the Phoenix’ written by the great Mansour al-Rahbani, and musically composed by Osama al-Rahbani. I debuted my theatrical journey 15 years ago from a prestigious and respectful place,” she explained.

“After ‘The Return of the Phoenix’, I performed the main female role in four musicals. I was young back then, in addition to all the albums, concerts, and music videos we presented in the Arabic world. All that helped me handle my new responsibilities, and continue my journey,” she added.

The young Lebanese singer learned how to deal with both the eastern and the western audiences and built a great expertise in audience psychology.

“There are people who have more sharp expressions, while others are calmer, but that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate what they are watching. When we performed in Taiwan and China for example, the silence surrounding the hall was astounding, we didn’t hear a hiss, for this much they respect what’s happening on stage. But after the show, the applause, shouting, and enthusiasm we heard were unexpected. The play has been ongoing for 25 years, and this means it’s successful and popular,” Tawaji said.

In 2016, the play was officially relaunched, and since then, Hiba Tawaji is touring the world. “We see that spectators love it, request it, and applaud it. Some sing with us, some cry, some laugh, and some clap their hands. The most beautiful thing about New York is the diversity of its audience. There are Americans of course, and there are many other nationalities, and this is so beautiful and flattering,” she said about people’s interaction with her work.

Hiba Tawaji’s journey is exceptional and incomparable in the Arab world. “I don’t think any other Arabic artist had the chance to participate in an international play like The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. I don’t like to speak about others, but I am saying that I am enjoying a universal opportunity to perform as the female protagonist of a French play touring the world. It’s a major step as I am singing in front of an international audience.”

The Lebanese singer doesn’t know how many times she played Esmeralda, “but they are over 500 times for sure, because we make long tours in each country,” she noted.

Hiba Tawaji is preparing a new album with Osama al-Rahbani, and some of its songs are set to launch soon. “It’s a diverse album, we worked with new people, which has given the album a different spirit. I am so excited to launch it because it includes many surprises,” she said about her upcoming album.

According to Osama al-Rahbani, the album was made in Lebanon, Paris, and New York. “It needs around 45 days to release. Two music videos have been produced so far, and we plan for more works,” he explained. Rahbani believes that his success with Hiba Tawaji is driven by her potential and talent. “Work in music needs interaction. It’s a ping pong game, and its success requires two people,” he said.

Since its debut in 1998 by producers Richard Cocciante and Luc Plamondon, “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” has been performed in 23 countries around the world, and in nine languages. However, New York’s audience enjoyed the show in French with English subtitles.



Gabon Forest Elephant Forays Into Villages Spark Ire

(FILES) Forest elephants are seen at Langoue Bai in the Ivindo national park, on April 26, 2019 near Makokou. (Photo by Amaury HAUCHARD / AFP)
(FILES) Forest elephants are seen at Langoue Bai in the Ivindo national park, on April 26, 2019 near Makokou. (Photo by Amaury HAUCHARD / AFP)
TT

Gabon Forest Elephant Forays Into Villages Spark Ire

(FILES) Forest elephants are seen at Langoue Bai in the Ivindo national park, on April 26, 2019 near Makokou. (Photo by Amaury HAUCHARD / AFP)
(FILES) Forest elephants are seen at Langoue Bai in the Ivindo national park, on April 26, 2019 near Makokou. (Photo by Amaury HAUCHARD / AFP)

In heavily forested Gabon, elephants are increasingly wandering into villages and destroying crops, angering the local population who demand the power to stop the critically endangered animals in their tracks.

"The solution to get rid of the pachyderms is to kill them," said Kevin Balondoboka, who lives in Bakoussou, a mere scattering of wooden huts in the sprawling, lush forest.

Villagers across the central African country live in fear of close encounters with elephants, whether on the road, going to wash in the river or especially in fields where they grow their crops.

Strict conservation policies have made Gabon "the refuge of forest elephants", Lea-Larissa Moukagni, who heads the human-wildlife conflict program at the National Agency of National Parks (ANPN) said, according to AFP.

African forest elephants, which inhabit the dense rainforests of west and central Africa, are smaller than their African savanna elephant cousins.

Poaching for ivory and loss of habitat have led to a decline over decades in their numbers and conservation groups now list the African forest elephant as critically endangered.

But that does not stop villagers from viewing the animals as a pervasive problem.

With a population of 95,000 elephants compared to two million inhabitants, the issue is a "real" one, said Aime Serge Mibambani Ndimba, a senior official in the ministry of the environment, climate and -- recently added -- human-wildlife conflict.

- 'Protecting humans or animals?' -

"What are the men in government protecting? Human being or beast?" Mathias Mapiyo, another Bakoussou resident, asked, exasperatedly.

"I don't know what the elephant brings them," he said.

Some worry their livelihoods will be stamped out.

"We provide for our children's needs through agriculture," Viviane Metolo, from the same village, said.

"Now that this agriculture is to benefit the elephant, what will become of us?"

William Moukandja, the head of a special forest brigade, has grown used to the anti-elephant complaints.

"The human-wildlife conflict is now permanent, we find it across the country, where we are seeing devastation from north to south and from east to west," he said.

Moukagni, from the national parks agency, said people's perception that there are more elephants than before was borne out by the figures.

"It is scientifically proven," she said -- but what has changed is that the elephants no longer shy away from villages and even towns.

To protect crops, the agency has experimented with electric fences, not to kill but to "psychologically impact the animal" and repel it.

Experts have looked into why the "Loxodonta cyclotis" -- the African forest elephant's scientific name -- is venturing out from the depths of the forest.

Climate change is affecting the plants and food available to the animals, Moukagni said.

But humans working the land that is the animals' natural habitat is another factor, while poaching deep in the forest also scatters herds, she said.

- 'Responsibility' -

The population of the African forest elephant plummeted 86 percent over 30 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has placed it on its red list of threatened species.

While they are still a long way from extinction in Gabon, Moukagni said the country had a dual responsibility "to keep this species alive for the world and for the sustainability of forests".

Last December, just three months after seizing power in a military coup, transitional President Brice Oligui Nguema publicly sided with "victims of human-wildlife conflict", in a shift from the conservation priorities of the previous government.

"I authorise you to kill these elephants... I am a humanist," he told the crowd to applause, also announcing he had asked for "all those jailed for killing elephants to be released without delay and conditions".

Jeremy Mapangou, a lawyer with the NGO Conservation Justice, said the message to the people was "strong" but added: "When the president said 'shoot them', he was referring to self-defence."

Hunting and catching elephants in Gabon is banned and carries a jail term. Ivory trafficking is also severely punished.

But in cases of self-defense, the killing of an elephant is permitted under certain conditions.

The weapon must comply with the law, the relevant administration must be informed, a report written and the ivory handed over as "state property".

Other measures permit the worst-affected communities to file a complaint and request "administrative hunting" to remove the four-legged troublemakers.

"But how can you file a complaint against an elephant?" Marc Ngondet, Bakoussou village chief, asked.

Mibambani Ndimba, wildlife management chief in the environment ministry, stressed that "the protection of elephants remains a priority".

Known as the "forest gardener", the mammals play a crucial role in the biodiversity and ecosystem of the forests of the Congo Basin, which has the second-biggest carbon absorption capacity in the world after the Amazon.

"We must provide help to Gabon so that we do not get to situations where the population rises up and wants to take justice into its own hands," Mibambani Ndimba said.

Otherwise, "elephant heads will roll".