Making Marjaa: a conversation between Mayssa Jallad and Ely Dagher

in january 2025, an in-person conversation took place between singer/songwriter/urban researcher mayssa jallad and director/screenwriter/artist ely dagher at his apartment in beirut. the two collaborators have been trying to meet in person for months, but their lives have been upended: after a year of fire-exchange at the border, israel’s assault on lebanon escalated in september 2024, plunging the country into devastation and uncertainty. the conversation documents the process of collaborating on visuals for jallad’s album marjaa: the battle of the hotels, for which dagher has been producing videos and most recently performance graphics which premiered in france in december 2024 and in beirut in january 2025. jallad and dagher had set out to write about their collaboration, but words—structured, deliberate—felt inadequate in a context of genocide and war, where nothing made sense. instead, the only thing they could do—without forcing coherence—was to sit together and talk. a conversation, immediate, unburdened by the need for clarity. they allowed their thoughts to unfold in real-time, shaped by memory, uncertainty, and the weight of the present. the conversation became an unguarded space where thoughts surfaced freely, without the pressure to shape or justify. the exchange became a drifting reflection on art, memory, and the weight of creating against a backdrop of violence. to further document the process of writing and editing, an editorial addendum accompanies the piece.