Several singers emerged in this period, among the most famous Fairuz, Sabah, Zaki Nassif Wadih El Safi, Nasri Shamseddine, Melhem Barakat, Majida El Roumi, Ahmad Kaabour, Marcel Khalife (activist folk singer and oud player), and Ziad Rahbani, who—in addition to being an engaged singer-songwriter and music composer—was also a popular playwright.
Modern pop stars include Najwa Karam, Diana Haddad, Nawal Al Zoghbi, Elissa, Ragheb Alama, Walid Toufic, Wael Kfoury, Fares Karam, Amal Hijazi, Nancy Ajram, Melhem Zein, Fadel Shaker, Assi El Helani, Myriam Fares, and Yara.
The annual Fête de la Musique, held in late June, brings the whole country out for organized and spontaneous underground concerts.
Bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Queen, Elton John, Aerosmith, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Electric Light Orchestra, Supertramp, 10cc, Iron Maiden, and Scorpions were extremely popular, and punk, new wave, and post-punk were also very popular.
Artists like The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Stranglers, The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Slits, The Police, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello, XTC, Squeeze, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Joe Jackson, Lene Lovich, Devo, The Cure, and Magazine were also extremely popular.
[citation needed] The underground music scene became vibrant in Lebanon after the end of the civil war in 1990, spearheaded by the rock-pop duo Soap Kills.
It was founded in Berlin, where Michel Baida alongside his two cousins Butrus, Jibran, and Farajallah, a Lebanese recording artist, had sealed a business deal with a German company.
One of the most commonly played percussion instrument, the tablah is a membranophone of goat or fish skin stretched over a vase-shaped drum with a wide neck.
Qanun is played on the lap while sitting or squatting, or sometimes on trestle support, by plucking the strings with two tortoise-shell picks (one for each hand) or with fingernails, and has a standard range of three and a half octaves from A2 to E6 that can be extended down to F2 and up to G6 in the case of Arabic designs