Raffi Feghali is a drummer, deejay, producer, a poet, and an actor. He is mostly known as GQ.
Early Life:
Raffi Feghali was born in Lebanon on April 24, 1983 to a Lebanese father and a mother of Armenian roots. His passion for music grew while listening to tracks on older siblings' cassette players at very early ages. He got involved with theater since his early school days.
The Name:
GQ refers to the name of the famous magazine, Gentlemen's Quarterly (better known as GQ). It is known for featuring celebrity male figures and/or anything related to them. A long story made short, he adopted the name as a tribute to a friend who used to use it and had to travel.
Drumming:
He started learning keyboards at the age of 12. A year later he joined a scout's marching band. That is when he found his passion for drumming. Years later he decided to learn how to play the drums as a set. He started his drumming "career" by forming and joining many jam bands. He calls that phase a "merely educational" one. At age of 15, with a whole different view on music and his love for all genres, he had his first performance. It was in a full scale musical called Little Shop of Horrors.
In 2002, after six years of drumming education, he co-founded and drummed with OtioZe, an alternative rock band that was dismembered a year after it was formed. They had couple of performances at a pub and the performed in "Concert for A Cause" in April 2003; a concert dedicated to the Armenian cause. OtioZe has two poorly recorded original songs; an instrumental one and another song that found its lyrics in his poetry. Also in 2003, he joined a rock band at Haigazian University and gave a couple of performances. In 2004, Raffi Feghali joined a Blues band that played in couple of events. Then in 2006, he founded a funk/blues jam band to "kill time fruitfully with friends" and widen his practical playing horizons. In that same year he co-founded an experimental rock band. GQ has been a drums teacher since 2002.
Vibe Lebanon:
During his first year of university studies, he was introduced to Vibe Lebanon, the first Lebanese Internet Radio Station. One of the most important things he built there, he says, is the friendships. At first he worked with archiving, later on he started covering local & international news to update them on the website. Later on, he started broadcasting "Radioactive"; a show that digs out the forgotten tracks from the past, present, and near future with Ceasar K. In parallel, he started handling the administration of the website and later on the forum.
DJ:
Raffi Feghali started working as a DJ or as he likes calling himself "music selector" at Hole in The Wall, Monot St, Lebanon. He also practiced chill-out and acid jazz music selection for a couple of months at Bubbles, Ain el Mreiseh and he also played at Canvas, Monot St. in Beirut during its opening couple of weeks. He is currently a resident at Cactus (Pub and Restaurant), Gemmayzeh. He plays funk, jazz, blues, rock, 80s pop, and new wave.
Production:
As Feghali was very much involved with music, it was a logical step to move to producing and more as he was studying computer science. He started producing some hip-hop loops using samples of jazz songs - only one survived and it is courtesy of MC Zoog. First full work was scoring one of the plays he was involved in, Arb3a La Wannous (Four for Wannous), while designing the sound. In May of 2007, he handled the sound design and operation of "Expressions", a dance event by the Haigazian University Dance Club which was performed at Sunflower Theatre. Most recently Raffi Feghali co-launched an experimental project called The Hub alongside Shant Kabakian and Izzat Ramadan.
Theater:
After having several acting experiences while he was at school; amateur acting and stage-sound experiences at the age of 13, and a directing experience at the age of 15, he acted and drummed in a full scale musical act "Lucky Lucky Hudson and the 12th Street Gang". He was 18 years old. At age of 20, he joined the Haigazian University Actors Club (HUAC) and participated in workshops, had constant exercises and performed sketches at university events for a year to polish his skills. He acted in his first major production with the HUAC, "The Story of Antigone", with a main role in 2004 at Beirut Theatre, directed by Sahar Assaf. The following year he had his second major production, Come Back Tomorrow, for Mohammad Salmawi, directed by Farah Khawaja. It was performed at Beryte Theatre, USJ, Beirut - Lebanon. The year after, he acted in Arb3a La Wannous (Four for Wannous), directed by Farah Khawaja and also performed on Beryte Theatre, USJ, Beirut - Lebanon. The same year, he was casted in a re-make for Ziad el Rahbani's "Shi Feshil", acted by Ihaa Theatre Troupe directed by Iyad Wehbe and performed in Bathish Auditorium, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. "Shi Feshil" was also performed twice at UNESCO Palace Theatre for two full-houses of about 1400 seats. In May of 2007, Raffi participated in "Noises Off", a farce prepared by Haigazian University Actors' Club and performed at Sunflower Theatre. Not only did he act in this play, but it was also his first attempt at directing as an assistant director to Ms. Sahar Assaf and he was the sound designer. "Noises Off" was a script that he dreamed about for 4 years and was finally realized with a big success. Raffi also acted in "The Last Talk Show", an LAU student's production performed at Gulbenkian Theatre, in June of that year.
Poetry:
Raffi started writing poems at the age of 15, with his first love experience. "Soul Satisfaction", one of his early poems, won international acclaim at the age of 18 and was later made an original song by OtioZe. At university, he participated in a creative writing competition submitting another of his poems, Soul Enlightenment, and won over 7 other submissions. This was a trigger for him to start putting together a collection of his poems in an illustrated book. He started writing lyrics for Ceasar K & GME after they used another of his poems in one of their songs and turned it out into a success. His first book is announced to be out late 2007.
GQ still needs the 9-to-5 job in IT and part-time job in education he has. Not only are they a money source he does not find in arts, but also an inspiration for his arts.
"The preceeding information were taken from IndyWiki on 06/20/2007"
