It includes a bar and a stage. «It is a place that hosts everything that is beautiful and that is musically and theatrically diverse. It is open to anyone who has something to say and any Arab or foreign artistic experiment,» says Hisham Jaber, dramatist and artistic director of Metro.
Those who take the first stairs down to Metro al Madina are transported by its positive energy away from the burdens of the city and its sometimes harsh life. Walls plastered with the colorful posters of cabaret shows, plays and music bands and an atmosphere of friendliness and joy greets visitors at the entrance to the bar and through to the stage, whish hosts various artistic performances throughout the week by groups mostly comprising artists from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt among others.
«From the beginning of our work, we have met very talented Syrian artists. It was the first time we had the opportunity to meet each other, Lebanese and Syrians, away from psychological barriers and negative emotions, which prevented us from communicating previously,» said the director Bassem Breche, one of the managers of the place.
«We have received artists from many Arab and foreign countries. But since most Syrian artists are residing in Beirut, they have played a major role in creating music groups, introducing the various instruments that they play, the fact that has enriched the artistic and musical movement in the city,» went on Hisham. He added that in this respect Metro has played the role that Beirut used to fill in the past. «When there are crisis in neighboring countries, Beirut used to welcome artists forced to leave their countries because they had lost the possibility of carrying on with their work there. It used to embrace them, just like Metro does today.»
Hani al-Sawah, a Syrian rapper, had come from Homs to Beirut in 2012 and found in Metro al Madina a situation that differed from the other places in the capital. «The existence of such a place has made me the person I am today in my relation to the audience, my presence on stage and my performance. Metro represents the positive and comfortable side of Beirut, the full half of the glass. I feel at home there. The relationship with those who work there is clear, institutionalized and familial. This is what has led me to stay in the city.»
The existence of Metro al Madina helped Maryam Saleh to take the decision to leave Egypt for the first time in her life and move to Beirut. Maryam is an Egyptian singer and musician who had spent her childhood and a large portion of her life moving from one place to another in Egypt with the «Surdaq» troupe for popular theatre, which was founded by her father Saleh Saad in 1938. The most beloved character she played was the clown. She also played roles in cinema, worked in theater workshops for children, and founded several music groups. Her primary concern was contributing to popularizing the works of Sheikh Imam «who didn’t get his due» and to show his diversity and theatrical capacity that he had in his tunes and performances.
«The first place I visit when I come to Beirut is Metro al Madina; I feel embraced there. The last person I knew who had provided such a comfortable atmosphere in theater work and brought forth this beautiful feeling in a team was my father.» What Maryam admires most are the human relations between the employees at Metro and the artists and the managers.
The sense of adoption that Metro provides for its employees and the friendly relations between them have also left a mark on Marwa Abu Khalil, who came to Beirut three years ago at the age of 18 from As-Suwayda region in Syria. Marwa studies fine arts at the Lebanese University during the day and works at Metro at night.
«I don’t feel tired working here. It’s nice and comfortable. There’s care and love here; no one harms the other as it happens above ground.» She comes to Metro outside her working hours to paint, listen to music, relax as if it were her home. «Beirut for me is Metro,» says Marwa.
«It has always been the case that during wars underground shelters turned into cabarets; people above ground fight and underground they have fun,» said Bassem, and over more than five years, Metro al Madina has become a place for entertainment and experimentation, supporting artists and artistic groups in addition to social and humanitarian causes. Its managers believe that this is the foundation of the cultural movement that they seek to push forward in the country.
Metro had organized in the past years in the exhibition hall, which was previously used by the General Security to censor films, several auctions, the first of which was in support of «The Uprising of Women in the Arab World» campaign. The second was in support of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and the third in support of freedoms in confronting censorship. It also used the Bar Farouk show to support the Beirut Madinati candidates list that had run for municipal elections outside of the political and sectarian blocs in the country.
«Among our duties at Metro is the support for causes we believe in and campaigns that offer useful social ideas for the city because the country’s cultural movement is linked to the vitality of its society,» concludes Hisham Jaber.