Category Archives: Music

Middle Eastern Talent Show Overdose: Star Academy Is Back

Star Academy Arabia

Just when you thought saturation was reached with Arabs Got Talent, The Voice, X Factor Arabia and Arab Idol, Star Academy decides to return to the singing show scene after a two year hiatus, fully-rebranded as Star Academy Arabia.

Casting for the show has started in Jordan and will continue across countries of the region. Lebanon will have its share next week at Monroe Hotel. And to re-assert itself as the most popular of the bunch, its Facebook page – started less than a month ago – already has north of 50,000 likes (link).

A source has told me the show will start this coming October on a yet-to-be-chosen TV station although I think we can assume it won’t be MBC who should have its hands (and schedule) full with both The Voice and Arab Idol. Dutch company Endemol is currently at the helm.

Toni Qahwaji has been tipped off to direct the show. He was a regular when the show aired on LBC in 2011 and earlier.

So in case the other twenty three talent shows weren’t enough to satisfy this apparently incessant need among the public, another one will be launching yet another “winner” to forget about.

I, for one, had thought Star Academy decided to call it off – similar to what happened to the French version – after its last lackluster season. I figured people may have gotten tired of it. It seems I was extrapolating based on what I felt towards these shows now that I’m not thirteen anymore.

I bet these shows have lost track of the participants they can’t wait to make millions off then forget about the moment the season wraps.  I don’t know about you but I’ve lost track after Joseph Attieh.

Is Rihanna Coming to Lebanon for a Concert?

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Friends of mine who attended Eddie Griffin’s comedy show over the weekend were tweeting about something the comedian said:

Rihanna might be coming to Lebanon for a concert this summer.

Such prospects would make this the event of the summer. Sorry The Script. Has Lebanon ever had someone as currently popular as Rihanna come for a concert in recent times?

However, for the same reasons it’s improbable for bands such as Coldplay or Muse to hold concerts in Lebanon, does it even make sense for her to come here?

Would an artist who’s used to international sell-out tours that fill stadiums and bring millions of dollars in revenue come to a country where venues such as “Stade de France” do not exist and where, despite potentially inflated ticket prices, profit wouldn’t be substantial and long-term fan base building basically irrelevant?

Either way, if there’s any truth to this, prepare for an onslaught of Rihanna songs on the radio – worse than what we currently have – and people gushing over how important Lebanon has become. I, for one, don’t think there’s much to it though.

The Script Coming to Lebanon This Summer?

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“The Script” Lebanese fans on twitter have been busy trending #TheScriptToLebanon for the past few hours. Soon enough, Twitter will show it trending as part of Lebanon’s regional “worldwide” trend and they’ll be satisfied.

But there’s actually more to it than a Twitter trend out of nowhere.

A trusted source has recently informed me that a local productions agency – I won’t reveal its name, just in case – is in talks to bring Irish band The Script for a summer concert in Lebanon.

Things are definitely not set in stone yet but the prospects are serious enough for some tidbits to actually leak: The Script are heavily considered to be this summer’s “it” band performing in the country.

Of course, given how things go around here, plans could fall through at any given moment given how preliminary they are at this point.

But Lebanese Script fans, rejoice, your favorite band may be meeting you soon enough.

See You Again (Single Review) – Carrie Underwood

See You Again - Carrie Underwood

Originally written for Narnia’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, See You Again is the 4th single off Carrie Underwood’s platinum-selling album “Blown Away.”

After the dark tale of a wife and a mistress killing off the man who betrayed them both in “Two Black Cadillacs,” which followed the story of a girl letting her father die as a tornado blows through her town in “Blown Away,” “See You Again,” cowritten with Hillary Lindsey and David Hodges, comes as a nice change of theme for Carrie Underwood. Although the body count is still rising.

Long gone are the stories of death, although this song is still somehow about death, “See You Again” isn’t as specific as its predecessors. It doesn’t tell a story with a set point and finish – it’s ambiguous, serving to express a sentiment. For some, its ambiguity can be held negatively but one of See You Again‘s strong point is its ability to feel relatable regardless of what it was truly intended for.

A song about faith, “See You Again” is about reuniting with a loved one long after death has taken them to a place where “the water meets the sky.” But it doesn’t necessarily have to be about reuniting post-death. It can simply be about seeing someone again after a long period of travels or a period of being apart from each other.

It is probably one of Underwood’s best recorded vocal performances, ranging from belting out choruses to head voices on the bridge where she whispers: “sometimes I feel my heart is breaking but I stay strong and I hold on cause I know I will see you again, this is not where it ends. I will carry you with me till I see you again.”

What “See You Again” does not possess, however, is a distinctive country sound and instrumentation. See You Again has the sound of 90’s pop: from the Coldplay-esque productions which is apparent the most in the set of sing-along “oh oh oh’s” in male voices that the song opens up with, to the backdrop of a piano-driven melody, to the tempo and rhythm.

See You Again will be another hit for Underwood who keeps releasing crossover-ready songs when she doesn’t want airplay that extends beyond country radio. Seeing as that’s the case, more country and possibly better offerings would have served as better follow-ups to her previous moderately-country sounding singles. Underwood may have reached a point in her career where she is courageous enough to release whatever she likes and it’s obvious she relates to this song well. However, while that is commendable, it’s a shame that the release of See You Again means better songs off Blown Away will never see the light of day.

B-

Listen to See You Again:

 

Lebanese Lina Makhoul Wins The Voice Israel

Lina Makhoul The Voice Israel

The myth goes that Lina Makhoul is a 19 year old Israeli-Palestinian Christian from Acre.

She participated in the second season of Israel’s version of The Voice. I had blogged about her before (here) when she performed one of Fairuz’s songs and gained the judges’ approval.

The reality, at least according to several readers who messaged me privately regarding the matter, some of whom are are related to her, is that Lina Makhoul is not Palestinian. She is Lebanese from one of South Lebanon’s many Christian towns.

Well, Lina Makhoul – a Lebanese (or at least of Lebanese origins) – has won the Israeli version of The Voice after beating out two other contestants in the finale.

As her last performance of the night, Makhoul sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

She said that she was the victim of racism on the show. I’m not sure where that racism came from – be it from other Lebanese or Arab Israelis who may not have wanted her to participate in such things or from Israelis who are not too keen on her heritage or from the show’s producers and staff. But at least she managed to win.

Either way, now we know at least one person who isn’t included in the current debate in Lebanon, which has obviously taken a backseat now, about the possibility of return of the Lebanese who flew to Israel around the time of the South’s liberation.

Lebanon is not allowed to access The Voice Israel’s Youtube page so I have yet to find a version of her performance of “Hallelujah” but I have found this dating back to 2011:

You can watch Makhoul’s initial audition here in which she also sings a Fairuz song. The Israeli judges refer to Fairuz as the queen and one of them had apparently worked with her before many years earlier:

Update: I’m getting reports that she may be Palestinian as her mother is apparently as such from the town of Al Bokay’a.

Update: check out her winning performance of Hallelujah: