Weeks before American Idol returns to its 14th season on Fox, the pan Middle Eastern edition of the show has just crowned its latest winner.
Hazem Shareef, 21, of Aleppo, Syria’s most populated city, was announced the season-three winner of Arab Idol, the highly popular local version of the FremantleMedia format Pop Idol which airs on pan-Arab television network MBC. While contestants originate from various countries in the region, the competition itself takes place in Beirut, Lebanon.
Following Friday night’s final performances showdown, the Saturday night finale saw the Syrian odds-on favorite win over Majid Al Madani of Saudi Arabia and Palestinian Haitham Khalailah, whose participation — as well as of that of fellow Palestinian Manal Mousa, who was eliminated in the Top 8 stage — was closely followed in multiple local news outlets, including Israeli ones.
Both were referred to in Israeli media as “the first Arab-Israeli contestants on an Arab show,” relating to the governmental term for Arab citizens living within Israeli territory. Upon her surprise elimination on Nov. 22, Mousa, a native of Deir al-Asad in the Galilee, addressed the matter on stage, saying, “I want to pass a message for the yellow journalism that fought me — I am Palestinian and Palestinian blood flows through me.”
Two weeks before her elimination, the 27 year-old Mousa was vocal on social media, weighing in on a recent altercation in northern Israeli where a knife-wielding Palestinian attacked Israeli policemen, who shot him dead. Mousa called the man a “martyr” and encouraged her followers to demonstrate for pro-Palestinian rights, writing “Palestine is revolting, Israeli Arabs are revolting.” She was later praised by several local political figures.
Khalailah, a 24-year-old Palestinian, remained fairly moderate in terms of politics and national identity throughout the competition, stating that he is proud of his heritage and hopes to grant the victory to his people.
Last season’s winner was also of Palestinian descent. Mohammed Assaf, of Khan Younis refugee camp, won viewers’ hearts after sneaking out of the Gaza Strip to audition and ultimately winning the show. His victory garnered media attention throughout the world, and soon after, Assaf was announced the first ever Regional Youth Ambassador for Palestine Refugees on behalf of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), and during the past 18 months he has been campaigning alongside recording original material. In June he performed his World Cup themed song “Assaf 360” in front of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo.
As the newest Arab Idol, Shareef’s prize includes 250,000 Saudi riyals ($66,000), a contract with Platinum Records (a label affiliated with MBC) and production of three singles and a music video, as well as a trip to the Seychelles courtesy of show sponsor Emirates airline.
By David Caspi
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/syrian-21-old-wins-arab-idol-234705256.html
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CONGRATULATIONS TO CRAIG WAYNE BOYD FOR WINNING ‘THE VOICE’
Congrats go out to Craig Wayne Boyd for winning this season’s session of The Voice. Runners-up were 2) Matt McAndrew; 3) Chris Jamison; and 4) Damien (last name unknown!). Craig gets a one-year record deal as well as other amenities. Team Adam (Levine) ended up with 3 of the 4 finalists: Blake Shelton’s finalist was Craig. Gwen Stefani’s and Pharrell Williams’ contestants were all eliminated a couple of weeks ago.
[Editor’s note: The final competition show featured the top four contestants singing “original” songs. However, my interpretation of “original” is a song that the performer has written him/her self. These songs were written by other people – professional, commissioned songwriters. So therefore, while the songs may not have been “heard in public” before, weren’t they really still “covers” because other people wrote them?”]
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THE VOICE SEASON 7 PERFORMANCE FINALE RECAP: WHO DESERVES THE TITLE?
It’s been a strange season of The Voice — and not just because of Gwen Stefani’s penchant for pairing torturous heels with tights.
But despite the almost constant shift in contestant momentum and the often head-scratching results (Damien over Toia Jones in the Knockouts? Ryan Sill in the Top 8?), something kind of miraculous occurred during tonight’s performance finale: NBC’s reality singing behemoth finally took on its most obvious shortcoming — that it’s never produced an American Idol-level superstar — and did something that may very well obliterate all those “what’s the point of all this, anyway?” criticisms.
Yep, Mark Burnett, the Season 7 coaches and/or the wizards working tirelessly behind the scenes dug deep (AKA spent some serious money) and came up with Billboard chart-worthy songs for all four of the show’s finalists: Chris Jamison, Matt McAndrew, Craig Wayne Boyd and Damien (last name TBD?).
To which I say, “Hallelujah!”
Because it’s one thing to hear a TSA agent or a college student present a kickin’ cover of somebody else’s chart-topper. It’s quite another to have them deliver an entirely new audio experience straight to your ears — and in the course of three minutes, make you say, “Yes, I will willingly add this to my iTunes playlist, somewhere between Beyoncé and Róisín Murphy.” (Subject for future internal dialogue: Do I inexplicably fall for artists whose names contain accented vowels? Or, in other words, would I like Season 7’s fourth-place finisher any better if his name was Dámíén? #perhaps)
Anyhow, the excellent “Contestants’ Singles” round, combined with majorly fun duets and one final set of solid (albeit mostly risk-free) covers, combined to make Season 7’s performance finale The Voice‘s strongest episode in the last 12 weeks.
What radio — the place where fresh voices go and smash their foreheads into concrete walls — does with the eventual winner (and his immediate runners-up), only time will tell. But here’s hoping Pharrell, Gwen, Blake and Adam double-down on these chaps in 2014 and use their pop-cultural currency to help one or two of ‘em break on through to the other side. (Sidebar: How come no one ever covers The Doors on reality singing competitions anymore? My brain can only recall “Light My Fire” during Season 7 Hollywood Week of American Idol.)
Oh my stars, I’m off on a tangent. . .
By Michael Slezak
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/voice-season-7-performance-finale-032343934.html
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