The international television network CNN held a special program “Inside the Middle East”, which featured an exclusive interview with Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi. Different journalists were assigned to hold the interviews with the aim of giving an inside look on the different aspects of Haifa’s life and the popularity she has achieved in such a short period.
The program aired on January 2, 2004, and it began with a look at Haifa performing her daily exercise, which is an essential daily activity in order to maintain the figure she has. During the interview, Haifa was talking in perfect English about herself stressing how thankful she that God granted her wish such looks that were an essential part of her success in life.
Haifa was then taken to the streets with the camera to get an up-close look on how the public (mainly males) react towards the woman whose looks have come o be the standard for true beauty. The interviewer was shocked to see that most people who saw Haifa in the street were anxiously trying to take pictures with her and get her autograph.
The camera moved on to one of the recording studios where Haifa was recording one of her upcoming songs under the supervision of Lebanese composer Elias Rahbani, who began talking about Haifa’s voice, which is believed by most critics not fit for singing, and her outer beauty.
It was also noted how the Arabs living abroad saw Haifa as a symbol of beauty and how she has the power to influence the opinions of Western people showing them the extent of beauty present in the Middle East. The argument was that the West neglects to see the amount of good looks present in the East and by seeing Haifa, they will change their views of Arabs that they are ugly people, according to the daily Al Watan.
The appearance of female Arab singers partially nude on different Internet sites, Arabic music has come to be used as background music for numerous European satellite channels that specialize in pornography. It has been revealed that these channels mainly broadcast songs by Haifa, Nancy Ajram, Diana Haddad, Ragheb Alama, and many others, for the mere fact that they display women in very revealing cloths.
The songs are used to entice sexual desires of viewers. Owners of these channels realized that the video clips for songs by these singers serve the purpose they are looking for, which is fulfilling the sexual appetite of their audience. The new name that has been given to Arabic music videos that display women in very revealing outfits is “ Arabic Songs Viagra”. Some critics expressed that these songs can be used to increase sexual performance by some and should be watched and listened to in the bedroom.
This coming January 2004, the international television network CNN will broadcast a special program “Inside the Middle East”, which will feature exclusive interviews with different Jordanian tribes and a one on one interview Haifa. Different journalists have been assigned to hold the interviews with the aim of giving an inside look on the different aspects of cultures that exist in the Middle East.
Wahbi filed a lawsuit in front of the court of publications against the French magazine (Alo) magazine. Haifa had accused the magazine, represented by its editor-in-chief Marie Bakha’zi and the photographer Ghazi Gareeb, of vituperation and traducement (slander). The photographer had lately taken inappropriate photos of Haifa during one of her concerts held at (Casino) nightclub in Beirut, which Haifa described their publication as very harmful to her reputation.
Haifa demanded she gets emotional compensation for what had happened to her after the publication of these photos and the entire lawsuit cost. The court has postponed the hearing till the 26th of march 2004 after asking Haifa’s lawyer to offer the court all the details of the incident and the publication that contained Haifa’s photos. Also the magazine’s lawyer had asked the court to postpone the hearing until they have enough time to go over the matter.
Haifa announced that her new album that will be released in February 2004 and will include compositions by prominent Lebanese composer Elias Rahbani. Haifa revealed that she has completed the selections of the songs to be included in the album and is scheduled to begin recording them in the very near future. –Albawaba.com
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
