UAE singer Ahlam was named the Queen of Tarab (Arabic pop music) at the fourth Doha Festival by the audience who watched make a splendid performance with Hani Shaker in a duet "Ya Hali" (My People), a song previously sung in the sixties by the late Egyptian singer Abdul Halim Hafiz.
Ahlam is also gearing for another duet with Saudi singer Rashed Al Majid, reported the UAE based daily, Al Bayan. Her duets contradict her ever so popular themes of male bashing in her songs. Ahlam commented that she does not attack men in her song, but rather introduces a different approach in dealing with men which is through words full of meaning and sentimentality.
Ahlam added that she is against singers who attempt to adopt different styles or accents of singing. She believes that every singer should stick to his native tongue and accent and avoid imitating others in style and manner. She said that no one can perfect an accent other than his own so there is really no use trying.
On a different note, close contacts to the singer revealed that she is deliberately avoiding the release of her new album in the fear of war breaking out. The singer feels that if the US calls war on Iraq the music industry will also be affected negatively making any new release of albums at a time like that would be a total loss.
Ahlam intends on releasing her album when an agreement is reached between the US and Iraq and the possibility of a war no longer exists. After completing her new album the singer decided that it was not up to standards and rerecorded it over once more. The new album titled "Ahsan" (Better) features twelve songs written by prominent Gulf poets and composers. –Albawaba.com
