Thread: Do we listen to music or look at it?

Do we listen to music or look at it?






By: May Rostom

Every year I anxiously wait for his album , try to download it a couple of days earlier than its release and even attend every concert he ever performed at, but as I listen to the CD I start to think are these the same songs I wait for every year just out of order ? Buying Amr Diab's album has almost become an Egyption tradition like buying "Fanoos Ramadan".


Although we've gotten used to the songs, we still can't get enough of his boyish good looks and his exceptional talent. Not once has he failed to stun us with his new look and year in year out we begin to wonder is this the real life Benjamin Button and is he getting younger by the minute? As soon as I unwrap the cellophane off the CD and insert it into my player I start to listen real carefully, try to relate the songs to my own life and try to "discover" the hidden meanings in the songs.



Usually we all repeat the same sentence the first week of the album's release "it just needs some getting used to" and that’s why we have our favorite songs on repeat, a couple of cars with those subwoofers has it with the volume turned up and of course most of the taxi drivers buy the extremely low quality copy for 1/4 the price.


A couple of weeks later the video is released to of course his number one song which is usually the "summer hit" you know where in the video you'll be seeing him (usually your heart will skip a couple of beats), a super hot model (your brain will start to deceive you, thinking she's not that pretty) and white sandy beaches (that’s when you decide that’s where you'll have your honeymoon).


Amr Diab has been on the market since mid 1980's, all of us have at least 10 of his tracks on our iPods but when did we become so obsessed with this artist? Will you still listen to "wayah" if he looked like what he used to back in the 80's ?? Whenever i look at his old pictures I can't help but hear that fake clapping sound we used to listen to in the background of every single song in the 1990's





Take Haifa Wehbi as an example would you really "boos el wawa" if that’s what she looked like now, or would "ragab's friend" even flirt with her? Don’t think so.


I admit Haifa definitely has the looks to cover all she's missing in the voice area, has good beats and music but the lyrics are a little out there.


She is a unique artist with a unique voice and style but would she have made it in the showbiz if she hadn't changed her look? We all know it's not easy to be a super star and that’s why the stars themselves go through drastic measures to renew their looks , bodies and styles but why is everyone focusing on the outer shell more than the talent itself ? In the end the looks will fade and that’s when we'll be able to differentiate.


Music is made for listening not watching so next time you pick up an album close your eyes and listen.


A fine article in msn arabia about music , do we listen to our singers or just watch them ?

That's a really interesting article, and I learned something about Arabian music...been getting into middle eastern stuff lately but mostly rock. There's this awesome Iraqi surf band that I heard a song from that I can't find anywhere....

Honestly the looks things is a gimmie...labels are looking for a package to sell, not just a good artist or musician. If you look back to when music really exploded there's alot of really ugly people...shit all Rolling Stones are pretty dismal...Aretha Franklin is another example, a big lady that simply wouldn't do quite as well these days. With video becoming such an important part of the equation they're much more likely to throw on a cute blond that's gonna show off her tits and grind up against a stripper pole than a truly soulful singer with class and poise. It sells records and it's not the fault of the labels because people eat this shit up...if people didn't buy it then they'd stop putting out the same BS year after year.

And that's primarily in pop music though...once you get to other genres it's a bit different. there is still tons of image going on in how an artist is presented but it's not as blatantly gratuitous...

Personally I like my musicians dirty ugly and generaly fucked up...it's more of a realistic thing to me, they're people that I can relate to...there's nothing about most pop stars that even remotely attracts me in that fashion...