Watching the new Arabic video clips these days makes you wonder how much the Arabic media was affected by the western culture. It does not take a genius a total of ten minutes watching the new “singers & video clips” to realize how much influence there is by the western music industry whether it has to do with the beats, looks, style, etc.
It’s kind of a sad thing, if you keep in mind how we used to lead in such fields, and the Arabic rhythm and tones used to be taught in western institutions.
Such thoughts make me wonder how far it will all go before we hit back to point zero again, taking into consideration our culture, morals and beliefs, we can only go so far before the media turns on the war against the new wave of those performers.
However, there are still some new lead singers, who surprisingly still deliver the traditional music and dive their way through the small screen and find their own audience to keep them alive.
I personally am a fan of the new beats and looks, I think it’s useful to get influenced by different cultures; however, I also think there should be a limit and we should know where to stop to keep our own unique identity.
What do “You” think?
By guest writer ZS
comments
I am also a fan of the new music and beats, and i just want to clear one thing up. It's that most of the new songs and the music, is a mixture of western and arabic. The old arabic instruments are used, and the mixture brings out a beautiful tune and rthym. We are not stealing or taking anything from the Western culture, the music is unique to the Arab world.
Extremely ironic that you would say such a thing, Waleg. As the saying goes, "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Look around your website.
It's all in English, its designed like an American celebrity blog, you report about "sexy" Yves Saint Laurent sandals, how much Matthew McConaughey's baby pictures will reap, and whether or not Joel Madden and Nicole Ritchie will get married.
And your complaining about how the West has influenced music ?
Just music ? Again, look around you.
Tone,
Articles that we post by guest writers reflect their opinion which is not necessarily our's too!
Oh, forgot to mention that Waleg is also available in Arabic and French languages too:
Arabic: http://www.waleg.com/arabic
English: http://www.waleg.com/fr
As Waleg pointed out a Guest's article reflects the writer's opinion and does not necessarily represent the website/paper/blog's opinion.
A word of defence to the site of Waleg, which is a different issue, i would like to say as a regular visitor to the site that "Waleg.com" is considered one of the leading websites that's addressed to the arabic youth community around the Globe.
I personaly check it on daily bases, few times a day and it only makes my day that much brighter whether i'm at work or somewhere else. It gives me that much to stay in touch with our arab and non arab world whether it's music, cinema, fashion "OR" even Yves Saint Laurent sandals.
Everyone's welcomed to share opinions, however i just felt like saying a good word for the sake of Waleg!
Best Regards to all.
Funny how those fierce advocates of "Arab cutlure" whatever that means, are keen on expressing themselves, in English! The language of the supposed archnemisis of Arab.
The only pillar of what is known as Arab culture is obviously Arab language, and those weeping defenders state their opinions in English, with the high possibility that they are unable to formulate a text in the Arabic language they are defending.
Dear Zee,
Thank you so much for your nice words, we really appreciate it :)
I'd just like to point out a few things. First of all, I applaud this website for keeping all of us emigrant Arabs up to date and in touch with with the Arabic pop culture. However, even though I am interested in reading the arabic version of WALEG, it does not offer the same articles as the english version. It is therefore inconvenient to have to go back and forth between the two, or to have to read one of the versions and know that I might be missing out on some news. My suggestion is that articles written in each of the 3 languages should be translated into the remainder of the 2 languages.
A suggestion for the subject matter on this site: it might be appreciated by the readers of WALEG to see the writers support art and culture emerging from our Arab countries (something besides starac and superstar I mean). I am thinking along the lines of showing some support and coverage to Arab fashion designers for example.
One last thing-on topic for a change- about the new music emerging from the Arab world, and that is that it is interesting to note that most of the 'new wave' singers that offer heavily 'westernized' music do not last long. They fade away before we even get a chance to follow them up. I think this says something about our collective taste as an Arab culture. If we want to listen to westernized music, we would much rather listen to actual Western musicians. When we are listening to Arabic music (for me at least) it is typically because I am craving the unique 'Arabic' beat and instrumenation.
thanks for reading.