Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Mohammad Assaf: The Gaza Rocket



His performance of Arabic classics is truly captivating, but the show’s producers know he is capable of so much more. In later episodes he gave them party songs in the Lebanese style and he literally brought down the house and sparked parties in Arab homes and Palestinian streets. He has a loud  multi-octave voice when he needs, and the soft and touching voice when he is doing a romantic songs.He seems to have perfect combination that makes a star stand out in a crowded music industry and sluggish music market. Then he was asked to do a fun dance Palestinian song. As He sported the traditional Palestinian scarf and sang, the audience in the studio went bonkers--dancing and clapping as he charmed his way into their hearts. The judges would even dance and sing during his performances. Each time he delivers a song, he unleashed a love fest from the audience and the judges who shower him with praises. One particular judge feels like a father to him and has taken key interest in Assaf. I am referring to Lebanese super star Ragheb Alamah who was his earliest and remains his biggest fan. 

Each time Assaf performs, a judge tells him he should be the Arab Idol. In his last performance he did a cover of one Saudi song beloved in the Gulf region and he had that region head over heels. He got into the song and made it his. This was great because it opened the floodgates from the affluent voters from the part of the world.  In this way he has locked in three important corners of the Arab world:  he sang songs from Beirut, did covers from one Egyptian legend and now did the same thing with a Saudi classic.   

the song you will see is a cover of a 26 years olf song for Ragheb Alamah, who loved the cover so much that he has granted Assaf the rights to record this song in his voice. 
Arab Idol - الأداء - محمد عساف - ياريت فيي خبيها

1 comments:

  1. Isn't this one of Ragheb's old songs? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhileE3bK0U

    ReplyDelete