Talk show host Ricardo Karam was only a child when Lebanon's civil war broke out in 1975.
Yet he has built a career on evoking nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz and glamour that preceded the conflict.
The soft-spoken TV presenter last year hosted an online interview series called Tonight's Chat exclusively on The National, during which he spoke to high-profile personalities such as Prince Turki bin Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Zaki Nusseibeh, cultural adviser to the UAE President.
Karam rose to fame in 1990s Beirut. It was a period of reconstruction, economic progress and renewed hope in the city, with which his name has become indelibly linked.
His first show, Maraya (Mirrors), became an instant hit in 1996 for hosting stars who embodied Lebanon's pre-war halcyon years, transporting viewers to a time when Brigitte Bardot dined in the coastal city of Jbeil and Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald played against the backdrop Baalbek's ancient ruins.
Lebanon’s civil war ended in 1990.
The decade that followed saw the rise of reconstruction projects spearheaded by former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.
As the nation regained a semblance of stability, thousands of people who had been displaced by fighting returned home and Beirut re-emerged as a regional centre for culture and business.
"I belong to an era that is not easily forgettable," he tells The National from his office overlooking the port of Beirut, which was devastated in the deadly blast of August 2020.
“There was a thirst from people to hear the stories of those who witnessed the pre-war era,” he says.
“People wanted to hear the story of a beautiful Lebanon… They wanted to remember beauty.”
For many Lebanese, Karam's name is reminiscent of better days. Yet as economic collapse, political deadlock and the aftermath of the Beirut blast have plunged the country once more into despair, he remains optimistic that Lebanon will recover, having had a front-row seat to the country's cycles of rise and fall in the past decades.
“Every 10 or 20 years, we have catastrophes, internal wars, stupid wars,” he says. “We pay a high price, but we overcome it.”
The making of a household name
Karam studied chemical engineering in Beirut but his passion for music and entertainment drove him to a career in television. His gentle interviews with stars and statesmen of the past contrasted sharply with the heated debate shows popular on Lebanese TV, gaining him a loyal following in his early days.
"It was the era of faxes," he says, recalling the messages he would send out to celebrities every week during the '90s.
“I would only get refusals, but a refusal is not a no. I would send them messages on Christmas, Easter, Nowruz…”
Persistence landed Karam his first interview with an international figure, when he hosted Saudi philanthropist Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz in 1998.
“It was my passport into that world,” Karam says.
Since then, Karam has hosted international A-list celebrities and people who have shaped the worlds of business and politicsm, a rare feat for an Arab presenter.
His guests included Bill Gates and the Dalai Lama, business tycoon Carlos Ghosn and Nicolas Hayek, the Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent who co-founded watchmaker Swatch.
He has also interviewed the main figures of pre-war Lebanon. One of them was the late singer Sabah, whose profile adorns a massive mural in Beirut.
"Sabah is the sun," Karam said of her during an interview in the late 1990s. He also hosted Georgina Rizk, who was crowned Miss Lebanon in 1970 and Miss Universe one year later, as well as the socialite and Baalbeck festival founder May Arida.
Those interviews are now "part of history", Karam says. As crises batter Lebanon once again, many of the country's citizens are now looking back at the period of reconstruction as another lost golden era.
Karam, however, sees it slightly differently.
“During the 1990s, we lived in a fictitious era of prosperity. We didn’t think there was something dangerous waiting for us later,” he says.
And so, the image of Lebanon that Karam has come to embody is long gone. After the assassination of Hariri, post-war optimism and prosperity gave way to economic stagnation. In the past 18 months, Lebanon has plunged into a deepening financial crisis that has been met with inaction from the political class.
Banks have prevented depositors from freely accessing their money. More than half of the population now lives below the poverty line and, last month, the country was labelled a "hunger hotspot" by the UN.
Karam says he now wants to focus more than ever on inspiring positive change in Lebanon and the wider region, and that drive has pushed him to remain in the country.
This has been the stated mission of his foundation Takreem for the past 11 years. Takreem gives awards to people from the region who, like many of Karam's former TV show guests, have risen to global prominence.
The foundation also bestows lifetime achievement awards on well-known, mostly Arab figures. This has included Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, famed Egyptian actress Faten Hamama and former US president Jimmy Carter.
Takreem's hallmark annual ceremony welcomes Arab celebrities and socialites and takes place in a different Arab capital every year. Last year, it was held virtually in Beirut because of Covid-19 safety concerns.
While a certain dose of glamour has come to be expected from these ceremonies, the foundation's main goal is to bring regional success stories of Arab talent and entrepreneurship to the limelight, with a view to shatter stereotypes about the Middle East.
For instance, Iraqi cellist Karim Wasfi received a Takreem culture award last year. The musician is renowned for playing beautiful compositions amid the rubble at sites of attacks in Baghdad and in ISIS-ravaged Mosul, as an artistic plea to peace.
A message of resilience and persistence
Karam wants to bring a desperately needed sense of hope to his country, but the very idea of a "resilient" Lebanon has, for many, now become a tired cliché.
Many Lebanese have grown disillusioned after mass anti-government protests in late 2019 failed to bring about change. This disenchantment has only grown in light of a severe economic crisis and the Beirut port blast.
The explosion killed more than 200 people, injured 6,500 others and destroyed vast parts of the capital.
Yet Karam remains optimistic.
The tragic event reminded Karam of the “fiercest days” of the civil war.
“We all lost something at the time and we all rebuilt. This is the strength of the Lebanese,” he says. “The main difference today is that people have no money.”
In the aftermath of the blast, Karam interviewed President Michel Aoun and, later, the caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab, who both said they knew dangerous chemicals had been stored at the port for years.
"It was the most difficult interview I have ever done in my life because there was so much responsibility," he says of his talk with the president.
Many Lebanese and some in the international community accuse the political class, widely seen as corrupt, of failing to prevent the blast and the economic crisis. Days after the explosion, protesters took to downtown Beirut where they hung effigies, with ropes around their necks, and called for political leaders to be punished.
On the day of the interview Karam received “tonnes” of messages from people who lost relatives and friends in the disaster, asking him to be their voice.
Watch the full interview here:
On camera, he raised tough questions, asking Aoun why he had not met ordinary Lebanese after the explosion and questioning him on the allegations of corruption regarding his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, a former minister.
However, Karam sparked controversy by giving a white rose to Aoun at the end of the interview as a metaphor for the resilience of the Lebanese people.
Still, he says his conscience is clear.
“I asked all the questions that needed to be asked,” he says.
“If I had to do it again, I would do it in the same way.
“Everything I do today focuses on positive change, inspiring the youth and conveying a better image about who we are.”
Looking out at the port, Karam says that, despite the destruction, thousands of people have managed to rebuild their lives.
The elevators in his building have been out of service since the blast, which wrecked his office but did not harm any of his staff.
“We will fix them next week,” he says with a smile.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
MATCH INFO
Watford 2 (Sarr 50', Deeney 54' pen)
Manchester United 0
RESULTS
Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO
Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke
Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke
Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO
Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision
Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision
Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO
Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)
Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)
Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision
Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke
Welterweight: Daniel Skibinski (POL) beat Acoidan Duque (ESP). Round 3 TKO
Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision
Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
On sale: now
Price: from Dh195,000
MATCH INFO
Day 1 at Mount Maunganui
England 241-4
Denly 74, Stokes 67 not out, De Grandhomme 2-28
New Zealand
Yet to bat
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The years Ramadan fell in May
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The years Ramadan fell in May
Quick%20facts
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
SERIES SCHEDULE
First Test, Galle International Stadium
July 26-30
Second Test, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
August 3-7
Third Test, Pallekele International Stadium
August 12-16
First ODI, Rangiri Dambulla Stadium
August 20
Second ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 24
Third ODI, Pallekele International Stadium
August 27
Fourth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
August 31
Fifth ODI, R Premadasa Stadium
September 3
T20, R Premadasa Stadium
September 6
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
The five pillars of Islam
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
Under 19 Cricket World Cup, Asia Qualifier
Fixtures
Friday, April 12, Malaysia v UAE
Saturday, April 13, UAE v Nepal
Monday, April 15, UAE v Kuwait
Tuesday, April 16, UAE v Singapore
Thursday, April 18, UAE v Oman
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Aaron Benjamin, Akasha Mohammed, Alishan Sharafu, Anand Kumar, Ansh Tandon, Ashwanth Valthapa, Karthik Meiyappan, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Rishab Mukherjee, Niel Lobo, Osama Hassan, Vritya Aravind, Wasi Shah
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SPECS
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
