Of course I don’t need to get into introductions since this Star Academy Show have had so much attention and success in the Arab World similar to its success in the European world.
Everybody talks about it, people are stuck in their homes just to watch the participants’ every day life, websites have dedicated themselves to cover its latest updates, and, and, and…
Actually, I’m not against having good programs, even if they were an imitation of someone else’s idea as long as they try to make it match people’s tastes and respect their traditions. In short, sometimes programs of a certain kind are considered extremely open to eastern countries, just like many programs are considered rather conservative to western ones.
So it’s not wrong to choose a program that was a great success, but it’s smart to modify it with one’s own touches, to give it a creative more suitable spirit than just having it as a copy.
Anyway, the Arabic Star Academy of Lebanon has gathered thousands of audience, and succeeded in getting both their attention and support. Whereas some other people thought it was
unsuitable in terms of religion or politics . According to some religion people, Star Academy doesn’t match religious morals, in the sense of having people of both sexes put together all the time, and exposing their everyday life which should be kept private. On the other hand, they consider it a cheap imitation and request modifying some certain aspects. Some went as far as boycotting the whole program, which I find so tough. I mean I do understand what they’re trying to say, but life isn’t only black or white, there should be some flexibility. And instead of stopping some show that has got the youth’s attention, we could work on it to make it even more successful in our own terms.
Now to politicians, some believe that such a program keeps the youth away from getting involved in their own countries’ political concerns. They believe the program draws their attention far away from some core problems and true concerns that will never be solved without their participation and their attention. I agree with them on one point, that this generation is way out off track when it comes to belonging to their homelands and trying to play a role in solving their own problems. But this isn’t only the fault of the so many fun-shows on TV, it’s the fault of the society itself that doesn’t raise them on a strong base of political knowledge and doesn’t encourage them to try to be useful members of society.
How would youth express themselves freely when they know they’ll be put in prison if they said something “against” the policies applies in their countries?
Therefore, before blaming it all on Star Academy or any other program, let’s clean up the infrastructure of our brains and organize our societies as a whole. In this way, not only Star Academy, but even 10 similar programs wont stand in the way of people being involved in building a healthy society.
Yesterday, we watched WorldBest. Unfortunately we missed some of it, specially the part of the Lebanese Bruno performing. But well, at least we watched the results. The French Elodie was the one who won, she truly deserved it. She has a beautiful voice, sings right and is elegant as well. Of course, others who didn’t win shouldn’t be sad, because they reached advanced levels. Not to forget that not all were singing in their mother language, and this plays a very big role. The confidence of someone singing in a foreign language, even if they’re fluent, is less than those who are singing in their own languages.
I really wished Bruno will get higher positions, but never mind, he participated and represented Arabs over there and this is wonderful by itself. I liked the voice of the Chilean Monica, and the Argentinean Emanuel, they were really good. But I was shocked with the Russian 17 year old Julia. I mean in the review of her songs and all, she had a great voice, but unfortunately she chose Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, which doesn’t match her beautiful voice, and although she sang with feeling, and she did it right, but still the layers were unfair to her strong voice.
Anyway, I wish all participants the best of luck, and hope they’ll be all happy for those who win.
For the details of WorldBest in French Click Here , for Comments on it in English ClickHere