Marcel Khalife socio-political life: The case of "Oh My Father, I am Yusuf" Marcel Khalife, vida socio-politica: El caso de "Oh My Father, I am Yusuf"
This paper intends to present Marcel Khalifes life during the Lebanese civil war. Named artist of peace in 2005 by the UNESCO, he is among the most renowned artists mainly through his political songs composed in albums such as "Promises of the Storm", "Arabic CoffeePot"… The latter was released in 1995. The music is based on poems written by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Our aim is to seek Khalife's life and music in relation with the Lebanese conflict in order to better understand his music compositions. The main source of our musical and lyrical analysis will be the song "Oh My Father, I am Yusuf", extracting the main elements which forms it. The methodology will be based on Martin Irvine research in "Popular Music as a Meaning-System". It will be supported by press articles in relation to the composer's musical activities and performances during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). This will allow us to comprehend the relationship between the composer and the political situation and better understand the influence of society on music. This paper will present the beginning of the research and the onward objectives to complete that we will be able to present in further publications.