As everyone is so miserable today, here's something to cheer you all up it did me anyway:

www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Myr...mouch-ananyiya_music

Myriam Fares, the pearl of Lebanon in surprisingly demure mode.

Here's what she's best know for:
www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/cha...res-la-tesalny_music

Some people are still having fun with music, even overtly commercial stuff like this.

As it's Friday, I'll bump this one up.

What struck me is that Fares is extraordinarily beautiful, an extraordinarily good singer, extraordinarily well managed and capable of charming TV audiences with ballads while also appealing to kids. And I bet she can warble like Mariah Carey and sing like Piaf as well. Plus, she's not alone. There are a good number of singers just like her in Lebanon and Egypt.

Where is the talent of this level in our charts? Why are we still looking to four young men with bits of wood and string hanging in front of their pelvises for musical salvation? Is not the gene pool for musical talent a bit thin? Are we not looking in the wrong places? Isn't it time for something new? I still find it odd that a society as multi-cultural as Britain has not been able to adapt the amazing Indian and Pakistani influences into something huge.

By way of comparison, look at the role that London played in the rise of reggae - which was no less exotic in the sixties and seventies.

Any thoughts?

In the 70s there was still a mainstream into which Reggae could cross over.

Today there is no mainstream - see the discussion on this board about the chart hits which (almost) nobody knows.

A minor point, I feel that the 1.02 intro on Myriams video is far too long, as are the empty spaces in it. They simply do not break your heart.

But yes , a great groove, and I love the use of crossover east/west musical languages.
It`s a bloody great record in any language.
I have no idea what she`s singing about, and yet it doesn`t matter.

In this age , we do have to be a little snappier in our video representation though, once we were gripped to Lionel Richie`s "Hello", today we would not be and I don`t think the kids would be.

Faster pussycat, kill , kill..

Check out my live reggea track on track 2 here


www.myspace.com/martinkitcherband

(apologies to the Clash, but it was actually a tribute to Joe)

Terrific stuff - remember that wonderful Ofrah Haza track 20 years or so ago?
I love cross pollenisation!

and a great JK fave - Khaled



which should have been a smash UK hit for Outlandish if the record labels had a clue



and if anyone is interested these days in talent, the man who wrote and produced Aicha, the supremely gifted Jean Jacques Goldman (another JK hero) had this gem I used to play on Capital years ago...

I'd never heard the Outlandish version, which is very creditable.

The funny thing is that in their video, the Arabic girl wears a veil whereas the Real Thing - my sweetheart Myriam - is totally emancipated while embracing her culture through the vocal delivery and the slinky dancing (hmm, that shimmi).

Now cultural day-tripping aside, here's where the European industry could sit up and learn something. I dropped by Myriam's site and checked the various pages. It's all very professional and engaging. The batery on myportable is dying, so you're going to have to come back as I explain something very, very unusual: Myriam has no records for sale on her site. So how does she survive? How is she -a star?

I'm literally typing this without seeing what I'm doing, so I'll check in tomorrow.

I noticed that there were no records available on her site - I then went on to Amazon in the UK, the US and France, and couldn't find anything at all.
Really surprised that she hasn't been snapped up - she's just wonderful !!

Sorry for the cryptic message.

I don't know Myriam Fares' business set-up personally. But I have known Lebanese music biz people.

There are a number of parallels. She is indeed signed, but most likely to a company that is both management and production company. Record sales in Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey are dwarfed by piracy. So people have to make up the money elsewhere. In most cases, this means doing the party circuit in the Middle East, organising big shows for big events. There is serious money to be made there. It makes our discussions about the 360 model seem a little academic, as they have been doing it for some time. The other element is that there are a good number of TV channels and commercial radios that feature pop singers. So you can build up a star quite readily with the right performer.

Last thought: I remember when Midem was swamped with latin sounds about six or seven years ago, followed by worldwide hits. How long before someone cottons on to the fact that Middle Eastern music is infectious and that there is a whole palette of artists, musicians, mixers and arrangers churning out the goods already? It's a scene in a can. Just add local marketing.

M