It seems that Shams’ two-in-one deal has appealed to the Arabic music industry. Earlier this year, Kuwaiti singer Shams released her latest album, “Shams”, which contained two CD’s. Why? Shams wanted to penetrate the Egyptian market, but without losing her loyal fan base in the Arabian Gulf. The solution? A 23-track, two-disc album. One disc contained eleven songs in the Gulf dialect, and the other contained twelve songs in the Egyptian dialect. Shams has successfully made a name for herself in Egypt, thanks in part to a grand advertising campaign and controversial video clip themes. Shams’ two Egyptian videos, “Ghamadt Eineik” and “Ahlan Izayak”, are hit songs. On the other hand, Shams’ latest video, “Loha Meaqeda”, has met with success in the Gulf and Egypt.

Success like Shams’ does not go unnoticed. Syrian singer Asalah Nasri’s Egyptian album, “Hayati”, reached number two status in Rotana’s sales charts. Each video she has released has been successful. However, this month she aims to return to the Gulf scene with an album completely in the Gulf dialect. She, like Shams, is providing an album for each market. Egyptian singer Angham also recently launched her Egyptian album, “Kol Ma Ne’arrab”, and announced simultaneously a completely Gulf-dialect album to be released soon.

Finally, rising Lebanese star Yara recently joined management firm Music Is My Life, who also manage Marwan Khoury and Myriam Faris. She and composer (and former manager) Tariq Abou Jaudeh announced that Yara is working on a Lebanese album and a Gulf album simultaneously, with frequent visits to the UAE.

Personally, I believe this whole deal is ridiculous. Shams’ packaging made it seem like she has two separate albums, but in truth she just has one very large mixed album. I think that singers should make their one album appeal to a wide audience by having multiple dialects in one album. If you have one dialect on the album, you increase the risks of failure because your aim is only one market for the most part.

What do you think of this “two-in-one” album craze? Do you think, like I do, that singers should just have mixed albums rather than two separate works?

By Ahmed