The never ending saga of Egyptian singer Ruby and the Egyptian Musician Syndicate, which has lasted for months, has finally come to an end with a simple payment of 60 thousands Egyptian pounds as fees to become a member of the syndicate. The singer can now proceed with her singing career without fearing any prosecution from anyone.
Ruby stood before the committee and was questioned why she was singing illegally and had not obtained a permit from the syndicate, in which she simply replied she did not know she had to be a member in order to obtain a singing career. The committee then requested she sing for them, and once she finished they gave her the permit.
Ruby paid 60 thousands EGP, in which 50 she gave as a donation for the Syndicate, and 10 as the fee of the permit.
According to the London based daily, Al Hayat, one of the member's of the committee objected to giving Ruby the permit so easily especially since there were several lawsuits against her. The member added that he was disappointed to see that money was the only issue considered and once the singer had paid the large sum of money she was easily taken off the hook for all her violations.
The singer had also faces more problems when the Syndicate forbade her from singing in her upcoming film “Talat Warakat Kotshineh” under the direction of Sharif Sabri, for not being a member of the syndicate.
The Egyptian Censorship Committee has deleted seventeen scenes and three songs from the upcoming film, marking the first time throughout history that the Censorship deletes this many scenes and three out of six songs from any film.
Dr. Madkour Thabet, head of the Censorship, announced that he supports the decision of the member of the Censorship especially after he watched the film himself and considered it harmful to public safety and social values. On his part, Sharif stressed that he will not accept the decision of the Censorship, especially since this much deletion of the film looses any real meaning it may have.
Recently, Ruby faced a new lawsuit against her, this time by music distributor Ahmad Al Jabali demanding 5 million Egyptian pounds in compensation from the singer. Ahmad stressed that Ruby had signed a contract with him in 1997 giving him full rights to all her entertainment activities, and making any other contract signed since that period invalid.
The contract has been automatically extended for five years, based on a condition in the contract that states an extension for five years will be made unless one of the two parties states otherwise. Neither Ruby nor Ahmad had requested otherwise and so the extension occurred giving Ahmad rights to Ruby’s activities until the year 2009. –Albawaba.com
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
