Beirut Drummers Beat Their Way Across Busy Traffic

       
Down near the hip street of Beirut’s Mar Mkhayel, a white and blue crosswalk has been freshly painted as a means to highlight the country’s traffic laws, or lack thereof.         

The crosswalk, also known as a pedestrian crossing is nothing new to developed nations. In that part of the world, people have the right to cross along the designated horizontal lines without having to signal to vehicles.  However in Lebanon, it’s a whole new story.     

This new crossing and several other ‘foreign’ concepts are part of a social experiment sponsored by Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, which hopes to promote a healthier driver-pedestrian relation in a country where madness rules the streets.       

The project dubbed #OnlyTheLonely cynically describes the reality experienced by the few of us who chose to respect traffic regulations. Those who use their blinkers for instance or even wait patiently without resorting to endless honking when people are crossing the streets.
        
Our friends from the Jebebara Unity Drum took this to the next level. As we see in the video the quirky bunch set out to defy unruly honkers while playing their djembes as they use the pedestrian crossing.         
  
We say good on you Jebebara! Keep drumming your way through the city lest the vibrations emitting from your instruments jolt some commonsense and harmony in a country that desperately needs it.