***Beirut, Lebanon's beautiful capital city on the Eastern Mediterranean waterfront, was once hailed as "the Paris of the Middle East," until a brutal civil war began in 1975; the country was all but destroyed by the time the violence ended many years later. During the early 1970s, the center of the Middle East's music industry was located in Beirut. Many great artists flourished in its nightclubs and recording studios as the city became the entertainment playground for the entire Arab world. Some of the greatest Arabic musicians and performers of the 20th century were either living there or frequently passing through -- legends like Fairuz, Sabah, Farid El Atrache, Omar Khorshid, Taroub, the Rahbani Brothers, and many others. This album, which features some of these legends along with others who are less well known, showcases the breadth of musical styles flourishing in Beirut. Arabic pop yeh yeh, Latin jazz, orchestral groove, folk rock melancholia, surf guitar, and a host of beguiling approximations on every genre of the time, yet all singular in their Arabic, cosmopolitan flair. These tracks represent a magnificent period when, for a brief number of years, Beirut was the place to be. Performers include the Bandali Family, Filmon Wehbi, Elias Rahbani, Ziad Rahbani, Taroub, Nabil Abdel Ali, Sabah, Mike Hegazi, and Georgette Sayegh.