Lebanese artist management guru Elia Mssawir is no stranger to musivv's growing platform. After the first feature 'To Beard Or Not To Beard', his support has been commendable. One that warrants a second installment— and hopefully not the last. Elia needs no further introduction. However, for those who are new to musivv, here's a brief prologue. Elia Mssawir's repertoire of work with big names in the music industry propelled him to develop a number of Middle-Eastern talents.

Establishing his UK-based music company in 2014, he booked tours and festivals for bands from the region. He then took his career to an international level by working with big artists such as Snoop Dogg, Engelbert, Serj Tankian, Tiny Tempah, Humperdinck, and DJ Danny Avilla. Currently running Big Beards Entertainment, one of the middle east's biggest artists management companies.

musivv caught up with Elia to see how he's doing.

How has the current global pandemic changed the landscape of the music events industry in Dubai? Both now and in the future.

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This pandemic didn't only change the music & events industry, it changed the whole world, the people and even the animals. But speaking specifically about our industry, it's nowhere to be found at the moment; the people that are behind every successful event are struggling, the freelancers are giving up and trying other domains. Even though in the UAE, the government is working hard to assure our safety and how we go back to our normal lives, I can easily say we are doing better than a lot of countries. Now for the future; no one knows what's going to happen, but I'm a positive person, and I believe things will run smoothly again. I really hope so!

The government is working hard to assure our safety

What are your thoughts on how the community can help each other to lift the spirit of unity in the independent music scene?

In normal days, jealousy among artists and musicians is major, and when the pandemic happened, I really thought people were going to be so selfish. But I was wrong; I witnessed artists motivating each other, pushing one another to do better, and create more! The best thing to support others in the meantime is to be there for them, share their material, talk about them and gather up online to discuss music and business.You mentioned in one of our interviews that there's something brewing between the government and private sector that would bring about a big change and impact in the music industry here, what's the progress on that?

The UAE government is working tirelessly to keep our sector alive; we saw it through the grand scheme that they published in May and June; some people were able to survive because of this.

Live music will be accessible to everyone again

A lot of plans and projects were supposed to take place during 2020 to enhance the entertainment industry in UAE but unfortunately, things took a different path, but I have faith in this country and I'm one of the people that will stay here to assure live music will be accessible to everyone again and definitely very soon!

We may wake up one day and the independent music scene is back to its blooming state pre-Covid. We can rest assure that men and women backstage are tirelessly making sure the highway to full recovery is clear from debris. Kudos to men like Elia.