The name Rotana needs no introduction, but in case you’ve been living under a rock: Rotana is the Arab world’s largest music distributor and producer, with 130 active artistic contracts, and a portfolio boasting giants like Sultan El Tarab George Wassouf, Caesar El Tarab Kadim El Saher, Shams El Ghinnieh Najwa Karam, Asalah Nasri, Elissa, Hussain El Jassmi, Amr Diab, Angham and the late Zekra. Naturally, power lunches like the following are all in a day’s work for such a company:

Recently Prince Al-Walid Bin Talal met with the elite, “crème-de-la-crème” of his Rotana label. Unfortunately, in Rotana’s corporate atmosphere, that naturally means the best-selling artists of 2006. Fadel Chaker, Kadim El Saher, Elissa, Marwan Khouri, Wael Kfouri, Najwa Karam, Mohamed Fouad, and Saber El Robai all met with the Prince Al-Walid for various reasons. The headlines, however, went as follows: Kadim El Saher renewed his contract for another three years. Najwa Karam’s next album will be ready for release in May, but for now a patriotic single/video with Melhem Barakat will be released on Rotana channels. Mohamed Fouad and Kadim El Saher’s new albums will both be ready for release towards the end of February. Other artists met with the prince for suggestions, comments, and discussion of future plans.

By guest writer Ahmed