No Haifa “Catwoman” Wehbe to be seen in Samo Zain’s new music video as promised?

Syrian singer Samo Zain held a press conference at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel in Beirut to launch his latest album “Zay Ay Tinain” (Like any Two).

During the conference, Samo said that he had previously hoped to have Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe star in his music video for the single “Al Qittah” (The Cat), but the project was never implemented and the song was never filmed as a music video to begin with. He cheekily said that Haifa will always symbolize a beautiful cat in his eyes. Whatever rocks your boat Samo!

According to Sayidaty.net, Samo arrived to the conference fashionably late – 20 minutes to be precise – where members of the press were waiting for his arrival. The overall atmosphere was very friendly and he answered the majority of questions thrown by journalists at him.

Samo had specifically wanted his comeback to the music scene, and the launch of his new album, to happen in Lebanon.

“I know I have been absent from the music scene for some time now. Many have asked where I’d gone to and where my albums that I had released were at, but my albums are still in stores and are witnessing a great success. The real issue lies within the production company ‘Mazzika,’ but I’m now very optimistic with my new album and expect great things to come out of it.”

As for the rumored arguments between him and Egyptian superstar Tamer Hosny, Samo expressed his awe at such claims and stressed that he and Tamer are the closest of buds and all that has been said is untrue.

He said: “I think of my fans and the millions of members on my Facebook page, and I think of Tamer and his important place in the entertainment scene. So when him and I read about those rumors we did not care to give them much thought at all.”

 

Source: Albawaba

Ninety minutes of tarab with Shaar

BEIRUT: From behind the red velvet curtains of Metro al-Madina, four musicians emerge to take the stage, resplendent in matching black suits and red bow ties. Stage right sits Ziad Ahmadieh with his oud. Mohammad Nahas positions himself beside him, behind his qanoun. Alongside, violinist Ziad Jaafar prepares his instrument. Rik (tambourine) in hand, Bahaa Daou takes a seat stage left. Finally, veteran vocalist Abdel Karim al-Shaar takes his place at the center, says a warm welcome to his audience and sits down, just centimeters from the front row of tables.

The music begins.

This evening’s program features one single song, “Hayarti Albi Maak” (You Confused my Heart), a much-loved standard from the songbook of Umm Kulthum – the woman dubbed Star of the East back in the 1960s.

The tune of this rapturous 40-minute torch song was composed by Riad al-Santabli to accompany Ahmad Rami’s lyrics. The version performed by Shaar and his ensemble is 50 minutes longer than any extant recording of Umm Kulthum’s original but just as potent.

Like Umm Kulthum, Shaar studied the art of “Tajwid” (Quranic recitation) as a young man. The Tripoli-born vocalist is distinguished among his peers for his mastery of the vocal tradition that features both the tuneful articulation and ornamentation of Arabic phrasing as well as the mental and physical stamina needed for long hours of performance.

After decades of exposure to the 2.5-minute pop song model, it may be difficult to conceive of sitting through the concert performance of a single long-form piece. Yet, at Shaar’s March 20 performance of “Hayarti Albi Maak,” the audience at Metro al-Madina was transported through a wide array of emotions, emerging at the other end exhausted yet elated.

Shaar and his ensemble are faithful to Umm Kulthum’s version of the song, though they do repeat a few refrains more frequently, and the rhythm of the music is slowed to allow for this.

Shaar also introduces some of his own vocal improvisations – “layali” (from “layl,” night), an unmetered modal departure from the set lyrics. An hour or so into “Hayarti Albi Maak,” the audience’s classic music aficionados recognized the words of another Egyptian tune “Leh ya Binafseg,” (Why are You Alone) composed by Riad al-Santabli and made famous by vocalist Saleh Abdel-Hay.

Having referenced a line from “Leh ya Binafseg,” Shaar moves into a “layali” then back to “Hayart albi Maak,” holding his audience rapt. Later on, he weaves in the chorus of “Ghanili Shway Shway” (Sing to Me Little by Little) – an Oum Kulthum tune from the soundtrack of the 1945 film “Salama.”

Throughout Shaar’s performance, many audience members confidently sang along. As is often the case with well-performed tarab music, the sounds emitted by the performers were punctuated by eruptions of “Ouf!” and “Allah!” from the spectators.

The applause at the end was enthusiastic, and Shaar returned for a brief encore – some 30 minutes in length.

Abdel Karim al-Shaar will restage “Hayarti Albi Maak” at Metro al-Madina Saturday evening. Doors Open at 9:30 p.m. For more information, please see www.metromadina.com or call 01-753-021.

The Daily Star

Facebook to buy virtual reality goggles maker for $2bn

Facebook Inc will acquire two-year-old Oculus VR Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for gaming, for $2 billion, buying its way into the fast-growing wearable devices arena with its first-ever hardware deal.

The acquisition, which comes hot on the heels of its $19 billion deal for messaging service WhatsApp, marks a big bet byFacebook to anticipate the next shift in an evolving technology industry, at a time when consumers are increasingly abandoning their PCs for smartphones.

The world’s largest social network was deemed late to recognize the shift to mobile devices and the company’s revenue has only recently begun to recover from the late start.

Many in the industry believe that wearable devices could represent the next big platform shift. Google Inc has been testing Google Glass, a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted to a pair of eyeglasses for several years. Last week, it introduced an effort to develop computerized wristwatches.

On Tuesday, Facebook said virtual-reality technology could emerge as the next social and communications platform.

“The history of our industry is that every 10 or 15 years there’s a new major computing platform, whether it’s the PC, the Web or now mobile,” Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts and media on Tuesday to discuss the acquisition.

“We’re making a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become a part of people’s daily life,” the 29-year-old Zuckerberg said, noting that wearing the Oculus goggles was “different than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Zuckerberg said Facebook was not interested in becoming a hardware company and did not intend to try to make a profit from sales of the devices over the long term. Instead, he said Facebook’s software and services would continue to serve as the company’s underlying business, potentially generating revenue on Oculus devices through everything from advertising to sales of virtual goods.

While Oculus will operate as an independent company, Zuckerberg stressed that Facebook’s plans for Oculus extended well beyond games.

“Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home,” he said.

In addition to game makers, Oculus has garnered some interest from developers keen on creating apps in areas like architecture, automobiles, marketing and education, the company has said.

Shares of Facebook, which have risen 25 percent in the past six months, were down nearly 1 percent at $64.36 in late trading on Tuesday.

Facebook’s recent spate of acquisitions is somewhat concerning, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday. But he said that for a company of Facebook’s size, the deal did not seem “irrational.”

“The question this time is whether Facebook is too early or simply betting on the wrong platform. This won’t be known for some time. But if it gets the platform right, we’re relatively confident that Facebook will develop an effective monetization strategy for it, thus boosting its overall financial growth,” Mahaney said.

The acquisition makes Oculus VR one of the most successful companies or projects to ever emerge from the fledgling Kickstarter program, which has helped attract small investments from the public for everything from the Pebble smartwatch to the recent “Veronica Mars” movie.

Oculus VR, founded by Palmer Luckey, a self-described virtual-reality enthusiast and hardware geek, got its start as a Kickstarter-funded program, drawing small investments from thousands of people on the popular fund-raising platform.

It quickly drew attention to its “Oculus Rift” virtual-reality glasses, demoed at tech and gaming conventions around the country.

Oculus VR raised $75 million in December in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, to market its virtual-reality headset for video games and develop the product for use in areas like education, film, architecture and design. Andreessen Horowitz partner Marc Andreessen, who is also on Facebook’s board, said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was recused “on both sides” of the Facebook Oculus deal.

Other venture capital backers included Spark Capital, Formation 8 and Matrix Partners. Oculus now employs more than 100 people and has distributed some 75,000 software development kits for Oculus Rift to game developers and others.

It recently began taking orders for new software development kits with better graphics and features to reduce motion sickness – a frequent complaint of the old prototype – slated to ship in July for $350 apiece.

Oculus plans to produce commercial versions of its virtual-reality glasses, called Oculus Rift, which users mount on their heads with a strap. It also hopes to take its technology beyond gaming.

“Virtual reality creates a canvas that is much richer than anything we’ve seen in computing so far,” Antonio Rodriguez, Oculus board member and general partner at Matrix Partners said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

He said virtual reality presents an opportunity to re-imagine various tasks and social interactions in areas like medicine and education.

So far, “people have done all sort of apps (outside gaming) like body switching apps, where two bodies are scanned and you can switch identities.

Last week, Sony unveiled a prototype for a new virtual-reality headset accessory for its Playstation 4 games console at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The headset, still in development under the name “Project Morpheus”, is designed to provide an immersive experience for gamers and is poised to compete with Oculus’ Rift once both devices are on the market.

The deal, which Facebook said is expected to close in the second quarter, marks the company’s second multi-billion dollar acquisition since mid-February.

Zuckerberg said on the call the two deals involved “incredibly rare companies” and that Facebook was unlikely to continue making big acquisitions at a similar pace.

Facebook ended 2013 with $11.45 billion in cash and marketable securities. The company’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp includes $4 billion in cash. The Oculus deal comprises $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock.

Finance Chief David Ebersman said the price of the deal was based primarily on the gaming business, but that Facebook believed the technology could be worth “multiples” of the purchase price if Facebook succeeds in extending it into other areas such as entertainment and communications.

 

Arabian Business

Is Haifa Wehbe the latest celeb to become a Goodwill Ambassador?

Has Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe been appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador? According to the starlet’s official spokesperson, no, no she hasn’t!

Nisreen Dhawahri denied the news that Haifa was appointed as UNFAW’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East region, according to Sayidaty.net.

As it turns out, since the singer-turned-actress isn’t busy spreading goodness all over the ME, she’s currently filming the scenes of her upcoming TV series “Kalam Ala Waraq” (Words on Paper), which she stars in alongside Egyptian actor Majed Al Masri, Ahmad Zaher and Rojina.

But even that had to go on hold for a while, since the “Words on Paper” director Mohammad Sami was discovered to have faked his college diploma, and was swiftly stripped of his membership of the Egyptian Cinema Professions Syndicate.

According to Sayidaty.net, the Syndicate has demanded that all the legal actions be taken against Mohammad, and he may face a possible jail sentence for forgery of official documents.

Mohammad may be forced to stop and the drama may never see the light, especially since he will be put under legal questioning and investigation.

Will this drama ever see the light?

 

Al Bawaba

Lebanese songstress Nancy Ajram records song for World Cup 2014

Lebanese songstress Nancy Ajram has announced that she finished recording the theme song for Coca Cola’s World Cup 2014 promotional commercial, al-Bawaba reported this week.

The diva’s 2010 World Cup anthem with Somali-Canadian rapper K’naan, “Wave your Flag,” was well received, becoming a chart topper.

Ajram’s latest album, “Nancy 8,” has topped the iTunes world chart at #1 in France and the U.S. while her latest hit single “Ma Tegy Hena” (Why don’t you come over here) has had more than three million YouTube views, after being uploaded a week ago.

Meanwhile, Colombian pop star Shakira released the official World Cup song for 2014 on last week, four years after super hit “Waka Waka” made huge successes during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The lyrics of the song titled “La La La” were written by Shakira, as a reworked version of the star’s new song “Dare.”

The World Cup is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro towards the end of 2014.

“It’s an upbeat, Brazilian track. The lyrics are personal and I’ve actually recorded a version for the World Cup,” said the 37-year-old singer, reported Britain’s Daily Star.

 

Al-Arabiya

Right now it’s just “Words on Paper”: Haifa Wehbe’s upcoming film may not make it

Forgery’ll get ya nowhere, clearly. After Haifa Wehbe’s “Words on Paper” director Mohammad Sami was discovered to have faked his college diploma, he was swiftly stripped of his membership of the Egyptian Cinema Professions Syndicate.

According to Sayidaty.net, the Syndicate has demanded that all the legal actions be taken against Mohammad, and he may face a possible jail sentence for forgery of official documents.

Mohammad, who is currently filming the scenes of his new television drama “Kalam Ala Waraq” (Words on Paper) starring Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe and Egyptian actors Majed Al Masri and Ahmad Zaher, may be forced to stop and the drama may never see the light, especially since he will be put under legal questioning and investigation.

One busy lady! Cyrine Abdel Nour is slammed with cinematic and music projects

Cyrine Abdel Nour is getting ready to film the romantic comedy “Sou Tafahum” (Misunderstanding) with fellow stars from Egypt and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, she’s also got a film on her slate this summer with producer Marwan Haddad and director Rami Hanna. The screenplay was written by Reem Hanna and co-stars her common on-screen partner, Syrian actor Maksim Khalil.

The starlet is one busy gal as her other drama, also with Maksim, “Sirat Hub” (Love Story) will air 90 episodes, starting in Ramadan.

Don’t forget bout her singing career either ’cause Cyrine revealed that a romantic duet is in the works with Lebanese singer and composer Marwan Khoury. She added that she is also preparing another song with Salim Assaf.

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