The Art of Boo - Kaput
Kaput is the second music album by Lebanese cartoonist and musician Bernard Hage, also known as The Art of Boo. The work consists of a series of piano based tunes that chronicle the artist's distress during the tumultuous crisis in Lebanon, from the early protests in October 2019 until his immigration to Berlin in June 2021.
Working on the album started in 2020 as a solo project, with Bernard Hage composing the original melodies on his piano in the intimate setting of his apartment in Beirut. Along the way, he was joined by musician Anthony Sahyoun whose exceptional input on the music arrangement took the compositions to new heights.
Composed, recorded and produced amid the chaos of political unrest, pandemic lockdowns, financial collapse, and the devastating Beirut port explosion, the sounds of the city and the artist's personal struggles were channeled into the creation of this album.
Biography
Bernard Hage, commonly known as “The Art of Boo”, is an illustrator and cartoonist who struggled with writing his own biography while referring to himself in the third person.
He was born by accident and grew up in a small and boring town, which had no electricity, infrastructure, or girls. Bernard received his education at an accessible private school, where highly experienced tutors greatly contributed to corrupting his sense of creativity. During his early years, he succeeded in getting himself into undesirable situations, which helped nurture his childhood traumas, and was credited by renowned bullies for always being in the wrong place at the right time. He also succeeded in getting friend-zoned countless of times and has been hailed as a “brilliant listener”.
Bernard chose a career in advertising that eradicated his ethics and social life simultaneously, so he quit his job in 2012. After surviving a profound existential crisis, he hosted his first solo exhibition, Undressed – Society’s Reflection in Its Brands at Artlab gallery, Beirut, in 2014. He then launched his first book of illustrated short stories and an original music soundtrack titled In the Dead of Night – Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups in 2017. His father missed both events.
His recent book, Anatomy of a Hummus Plate, published in April 2021, is a compilation of social and political cartoons that documents Lebanon’s economic and political collapse. Launched in Beirut, the book received disappointing reviews, most of which originated from furious vegans who were misled by the title and thought the content was no laughing matter.
In his spare time, Bernard composes music on his piano, labeled as “neo-experimental-medium-rare-Indie” by his intellectual middle-aged divorced neighbor, with whom Bernard agrees. Recently, his music became more appreciated among the other neighbors, as it turned out it drives burglars and bandits away. His records are mostly played on weekends, in lieu of a security system when the neighbors leave for their mountain retreat.
Bernard is known best for his cartoons. He’s published weekly with L’Orient Le Jour since 2018, the French-language Lebanese daily that offered him a very large amount of exposure in return for his hard work. His work has been hailed by regional and international media, popular blogs and his mother.
Currently Bernard resides in Berlin, where he pursues his dream of becoming a young millionaire by introducing sense of humor to the local community.
