I agree with Roba.

Let me start with Salam, I first heard about the band from my friend Aziz Maraka 2 weeks back & their songs are non-stop on my list since then… Easy listening! The band is called Salam because of the founder Salam Homoud who grew up listening to and absorbing numerous styles of music, a fascination with traditions & styles from across the world went hand in hand with the need to create something he could call him own, Salam is currently working with the band on a self titled album, which is expected to be released in mid-2008.

Salam band members are:
Salam Homoud, Munzer Jaber, Yarub Smarait, Ali Jaffal, Zaid Modhi, Shadi Khries, Enas Said & Nes Getsy

Recommended song to download: Khabeeni

2nd band today is Jadal, Jadal is a Jordanian rock band formed in 2003 by Mahmoud Radaideh playing Rock, the music they like, and singing their own Jordanian Arabic lyrics, they came up with the new genre «Arabic Rock», combining by that these two distincts. I personally think that they are great and addictive too! Rami their vocalist is a great designer as it seems since he created their logo, Kamel is a friend of a close friend and a nice person w hile I have Mahmoud for his attitude.

Jadal band members are:
Mahmoud Radaideh, Kamel AlMani, Rami Delshad & Laith Nimri.

Recommended songs to download: Sa’latny & Salma.

Last by not least, Aziz Maraka’s Razz. Razz is a new genre created by the band members and Aziz influenced by Rock, Arabic & Jazz. It is hard to understand this genre if you haven’t heard it. It has the energy from rock, but it is still pure Jordanian thoughts and Arabic tunes. The Jazz smooths is out a little, so you get Razz. Aziz was born in Tunisia in 1983, lived there for 10 years, then had to move with his parents to Jordan where he grew up as an average Jordanian kid from Amman. In 2001, He went to the Music Academy of Jordan for one year, then was granted a scholarship to study in the USA where he finished his Bachelor studies in Music Composition.

Razz band members are:
Ali Jaffal, Aziz Maraka, Munzer Jaber, Najati Al-Soloh & Shadi Khries.

Recommended songs to download: Bent El Nas, La Hali & Possessed.

Confirmed by the organizers of the event, MUSE will be playing in Dubai this March in the one and only Middle Eastern Rock Festival Dubai Desert Rock.

I can’t wait to see them, I hope It works out for me to get the Visa & cash easily.

The good news:

1. The movie is unbiased. Arabs are Arabs, Americans are Americans.
2. The shooting location (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) is very close to Saudi Arabia. Khaleeji countries look alike.
3. The idea gets to you, straight points, no sexual content, pure drama.
4. The Arab actors had an Arab English accent which is correct for most of the nations besides the new generation and people who live abroad.

The bad news:

1. The plot runs really fast, move your eyes away for a second and lose track.
2. The semi-war scenes in some Saudi neighborhood are too “Counter-Strike“.
3. Saudi Arabia and most of the Khaleeji countries are so Americanized, I didn’t see that in the movie! I do not see any Starbucks Coffee, KFC, Pizza Hut or McDonald’s in the movie.
4. I think the makers should have worked more on researching about Saudi women, because they usually wear abayas when staying with other men in one place, and neither show their faces nor be in a place where you can easily spot them.

My problem with the movie is that it leaves you lost in between categorizing it as an action movie or a political comment. The montage process between USA and Saudi Arabia puts you in the actors position and makes you live it. The very last lines spoken in the movie redeem berg of a lot of the mindless action that preceded it. What the creators are trying to deal with in the movie is the religious fundamentalism, the notion that your religion gives you the right to do all kinds of evil in the name of the Deity you worship. It leads to the justification of evil acts by anyone’s standards, somehow good because you did them in what you consider a noble cause.

If you hate extremists. this movie will make you hate them more! and appreciate, life and children more.

However, you can’t blame the kids, I know what stupid ideas our Arabic, let me say stupid educational systems try to implement in their minds. My nephew, 6 years old. used to go to an Islamic school, they made him love using fake guns and soldier toys to destroy “our” enemies, the “non-muslims”. Thank god my sister moved the kid to another school, because otherwise if he stays there, he might be the next Bin Ladin.

Movie rates 3.5/5 on my scale (I didn’t like the gang-bang scenes, too artificial)

I think it’s really smart what they’re doing and all. I’m not the biggest Radiohead fan in the world, but I admit that they put out good stuff. It just crashes me to hear people say things like “It’s about time someone offered good music for free”.

The music industry has done a lot to piss people off, that I understand. It’s just the entitlement part that bugs me. So let me get this straight… If an artist doesn’t have a contract with some major label, and they go through creating music, paying someone to make it sound polished, and setting up distribution and …etc

you STILL don’t think you should buy their stuff to help them KEEP doing it

Buy Radiohead (like I did) Discbox or Download, Music has always been undervalued, and MP3s have only worsened that. A freaky number of people believe that all musicians are fantastically wealthy, and thus everyone should be entitled to music for free. They say things like “since there’s no physical product, there’s no cost to produce it, therefore I shouldn’t have to pay for it“. Or they justify having massive leeched MP3 collections by saying things like “nobody’s losing any money, because I wouldn’t have paid for any of it anyway“. And yet the same people will spend alot of money for designer clothes and other items which are made of materials that cost a fraction of what they sell for (when they can get them cheaper online). Amazing how some people will value something but regard another as worthless.

Only musicians who are successful for the long-term make big money, The bands who are huge for a year and then vanish make nothing. There are countless stories of who sold millions and ended up in debt after paying for their advances, promoters, lawyers, and labels. Not to mention how the entire industry is without integrity, and labels lie about how much they’ve sold or simply don’t care.

Getting back to the value perception: it still amazes me that a lot of people would pay out 50 JDs for DVD box sets of their favourite TV shows from Prime or Virgin megastores, which were originally broadcast for free on TV or will air on MBC4 sooner or later, and which they will watch exactly once or twice and then file them away. Yet paying 15 JDs for an album which they will listen to hundreds of times is a “ripoff”.

Viva La Wast El-Balad, center of piracy! My 5 Groosh, Stuff it!

Update: The Discbox is for 40 pounds, the Download is unlimited, pay as much as you think they worth!

I of course paid more