The Egyptian Broadcasting Company has received a warning notice from Egyptian producer Muhsin Jabr, owner of Alam El Phan Production Company, to stop airing all of Egyptian singer Amr Diab’s concert video clips on all its channels. Muhsin stated that according to the contract between him and Diab, which is still valid, he has the rights to all his concert filming and any station that does not abide by his demand he will take legal actions and file lawsuits.
According to the Egyptian based daily, Al Gomhouria, Muhsin has become Diab’s worst enemy after the latter left his company and signed a new contract with Rotana Music Production Company. Muhsin warned Diab that he will do all he can to make his shift to the new company as difficult as possible and insists on punishing him through the terms that are listed in their contract.
It was revealed that the UAE Dubai television station was forced to cancel a concert that was to be held by Amr, due to the fact that the singer was unable to leave Egypt after the company had confined his movement to around Egypt only. The organizers of the event ended paying everyone back their concert ticket money and apologized for Amr’s absence. The head of the organizing committee tried to negotiate with Muhsin on allowing the singer to sing, and Muhsin finally agreed on the condition that the concert shall not be aired live on television and may only be aired at a latter date.
The shift of Diab from Alam El Phan to Rotana was not as smooth as planned, but rather caused a war to break out pulling Amr in the middle. Muhsin had previously stressed that Amr’s move is not as simple as the singer thinks and still has many legal issues pending that must be resolved before the new company takes over his work.
For the past nine years, Muhsin has been Amr’s right arms, in terms of defending him, helping him make the right decisions in his career path, and most important making him the star he is today. But after Amr’s unexpected move to Rotana, after extensive negotiations that lasted for months, Muhsin has transformed into Amr’s worst enemy and is placing the best interest of his company in front of everything else, disregarding the fact that Amr was the reason behind the company’s success and brought it the most profit.
Muhsin had at first taken the news of Amr’s move calmly as if no harm was done, but later on stressed that the contract between his company and Amr is very clear and according to it the singer can not abort the contract until he fulfils all its conditions which say that the singer must submit two more albums before the end of his terms with the company which is on December 31, 2003. If Amr does not abide by the contract, Muhsin has every right legally to freeze any new work by Amr in turn forbidding the new company from producing anything by the singer.
Contradicting what many thought that Muhsin will be drawn into negotiating a settlement price with Amr and peacefully dropping the issue, Muhsin has revealed that he will not agree to any deal and will in fact freeze all of Amr’s work until he is provided with two more albums by the singer. The matter has also Rotana on the line after paying the singer 5 million US dollars to sign a contract, and since literally the singer needs at least two years to produce two albums a matter that can not keep Rotana quiet.
Muhsin stressed that he is not the one who put Amr in this situation, but the singer did it to himself and needs to pay the consequences for his actions. On the other hand, Amr feels that what he has done is 100 percent legal and he does not owe Muhsin anything after the contract ends.
The issue remains unsolved between the two men and will eventually be resolved in court. The once good friend of Amr has now turned against him in ways like revealing facts about the singer that show the weaker side of him. Muhsin has announced that the singer as a person is not capable of achieving the success he has reached, but it was the company that worked on creating him a star around the world.
Amr's latest album "Alim Albi Al Gharam" features twelve songs, which were written by a number of prominent poets. The new album features Amr in a new look and music styles. He combined Tango, Jazz, Techno, and eastern genres all in one. “Alim Albi Al Gharam” is shot in London. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
