Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
NumberNineDream (Lebanon)
What's pop music where you're from? And how does it differ from the U.S.?
On the flipside of that coin, what is usually the more obscure but cult-type music there?
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That's a difficult one to answer ...
Well all mainstream artists are some built-up plastics that lip-synch all their digitally fabricated voices. All of them are considered Pop, though very different from the American pop, it has the same qualities. The singers don't compose or write their own music, and they work on their image and their music videos more than they actually work on learning the song. I think only 5 of all the "pop singers" have decent voices, but even these choose to lip-synch publicly in concerts and gigs.
Anyway, the melodies are usually a kind of a hybrid that seems oriental, though lost all its characteristics to sound more like American pop music. It's mainly arranged to be played in clubs, so it's more like dancing music. The lyrics are very bad, lucky you, you won't understand them. The most popular two:
On the parallel, there's a different kind of music that has been gaining popularity in the last couple of years, as being "patriotic" has become a "cool" thing to be. So a lot of songs are being composed to sound a bit too "Lebanese", with some exaggerated folk characteristics. Now that I think about it, I think it's a reaction to the other genre of westernised music. Though I feel this one is even uglier, as it's getting more and more vulgar, with no change in melodies. The two songs that kind of emerged in that style and are still very much popular:
As for the counter culture, it goes from folk, rock, to electro and experimental. It never gets any exposure in the media or on the radio. We usually know about it, as all Art/Film students know each other. They're usually bands that perform in pubs and festivals all around Lebanon, and that become a cult group until they disband because one or more of the members have decided to immigrate to one of the bigger countries. So these bands usually only have time to release one album. I have noticed though, that these bands are booming this year, but still none of them have gotten any exposure in the media, as there's only one big Label in the Arabic World that is monopolising the market. It's called Rotana, and owned by the Saudi Arabian billionaire prince, Al-Walid Ben Talal.
I have been talking about these bands in one of my threads in the World Music section, so I'll post some of my favourite bands in here:
I guess that's about it... if you want any more details, feel free to ask
