When Nadim Makhoul called up Hard Rock Cafe to get a gig for his rock band Epilepsy, the manager had no problem with the music: “Just change the name,” he said. “There’s no way we can let you play with that name.”
According to the Lebanese based English language publication, The Daily Star, Makhoul, manager of the month-old band, quickly explained “there’s a reason for the name. It wasn’t just a random name picked from out of nowhere.”
Two of Epilepsy’s members are recovering epileptics so the name hits home as does the discrimination. Even during the interview, the afflicted members insisted on remaining anonymous for fear that “people will look at us differently.”
It has been a common reaction throughout the world to shun epilepsy victims; making them feel alienated; a factor which contributed to some patients finding themselves living a double life.
“The Lebanese don’t care for anything but their cell phones,” said lead singer Haithem Khatib, who is something of the spokesperson of the group. “Disorders like epilepsy are a taboo. People have the idea that it’s something to be ashamed of.”
Epilepsy, a neurological disorder that induces seizures, afflicts 1 out of every 200 adults. In the most severe cases, seizures can last up to 20 minutes and can cause the individual to swallow his tongue. In general, it is an inherited neurological malfunction, more prominent at a younger age and is curable by years of taking medicine.
In the case of one of Epilepsy’s band members, he acquired the disease through “the mistake of the doctors. I was in a motorbike accident and had an extremely high temperature, like 40 degrees. They gave me a blood transfusion because they didn’t realize my temperature was so high. The result was 13 years of epilepsy.”
Epilepsy’s other epileptic was born with the disorder and suffered from it until he was ten years old. Throughout his affliction he underwent a seizure only once, but he was restricted from playing any kind of sports or engaging in physical activity because a blow to the body led to an arrest of breathing.
“Yes, to some extent I felt discriminated against,” he said. “Like people treat you differently when they find out. You feel like you are alone. There’s no one with whom you can share your problem, there is no support system here.”
Both Epilepsy members have recovered fully from the disorder, so bright stage lights (which can trigger seizures) are no threat.
But showing that people can overcome the disorder has become the mission statement of the band even though the name, they admit, initially “just seemed catchy.”
It wasn’t until after suggestions for the band’s name were thrown around that members actually realized some of them had suffered from the disease.
Bassist Ramzi Khaled, drummer Elie Hachem, keyboard player John Habib, and lead guitarist Walid Khalife provide the instrumentals to Khatib’s high-ranging vocals.
Khatib, a 32-year-old English literature major turned export-import dealer, isn’t shy about voicing his ambitions for the band. At 8:30am, behind round, blue-tinted sunglasses, he has enough energy to tout the benefits of rock music, condemn the immorality of today’s youth, and deride amid a flurry of expletives the ignorance of the Lebanese public.
“I’m not that old, but the Lebanese have lost their morals. Here they are losing their virginity at 13 and smoking hash at 15, and we still consider things like epilepsy something to be ashamed of.”
For the band, changing the image of the disorder, which they think is highly misunderstood, is a top priority. Their first and, as of yet, only original song, “Epilepsy,” describes an epileptic seizure and the aftereffect of amnesia.
“It’s not just epilepsy,” Khatib insisted. “The name Epilepsy is representative of every disorder that people feel ashamed of because in the end, we’re all just people, we’re all the same. Diseases like Epilepsy are worldwide and people with it live normal lives. The Lebanese should learn to accept it.”
Apart from their social mission, the band does indeed play rock music: “mostly classical,” said bass player Ramzi Khaled. “People cringe when we say we’re a rock band.”
The band does “creative covers of classics like California Dreaming and songs by Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin bands which also happen to be Khatib’s main influences. “Although my first influence was Umm Kulthum,” he admits.
It seems a far stretch from the screaming vocals Khatib who was the lead singer for a band called Exceed for a number of years has become known for. In Epilepsy he’s “toned it down a bit. It’s a softer tone.”
And they’re not going to stop at music. Makhoul, who is the Information Technology manager for Rainbow Island, an amusement and education center for children in Hazmieh, researched a number of associations worldwide geared for sufferers of epilepsy after his search for such an organization in Lebanon yielded no results. He hopes to promote the band as well as the cause through the connections with the international sites.
Khatib also insists that Epilepsy is prepared to do concerts “for free” for any association that works for the betterment of “the paralyzed, the blind, the epileptic, the down-syndrome patients … all those who suffer.”
“For free,” he makes me underline. “And all we ask for is a good sound system.”
The goateed performer pauses, and after a thought he leans forward. “Oh, and not for pubs.”
Epilepsy plays every Thursday at Rio Grande in Jounieh and will perform at the Hard Rock Cafe in Ain el-Mreisseh on Oct. 27. – The Daily Star.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
