The contestants for season three of Arab Idol are gifted with beautiful voices — no surprises there. But what was not expected was that they came from a broader-than-ever range of ethnicities and countries, including Kurdistan in northern Iraq and part of historical Palestine that Israel captured in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
Though it is the second year that an Iraqi Kurd is participating in the Arab world’s leading TV singing competition, for the first time, two Palestinians in 1948 areas are taking part in the show, setting a precedent for the pan-Arab, Saudi-owned MBC television channel.
The participation of Manal Mousa, 25, and Haitham Khalaileh, 24, — both from Galilee — has raised controversy in social media. When they sing in the show, they are identified as singing for “Palestine”.
“For us, they presented themselves and participated in the show as Palestinian talent and that is it,” MBC spokesperson Mazen Hayek said, adding: “We don’t get involved into who has a dual nationality or has not, or who has a political affiliation or who doesn’t.”
Manal and Khalaileh applied for auditions in the West Bank city of Ramallah, passed three rounds and were among the 25 finalists. Now, they are among the 12 finalists.
Last spring, they travelled to Beirut, where the show is filmed, on travel documents issued by the Palestinian National Authority for the trip.
Israel and Lebanon are foes. Laws in both countries criminalise contacting the other side, let alone visiting the other country.
Last year, Mohammad Assaf, a Palestinian from Gaza, captivated the hearts of Arabs, particularly Palestinians, when he won the title. Today, he is looked at as a phenomenon rather than a singing star.
This year’s exceptional mix of Arab talents also included one Algerian, two Syrians and three Egyptians. Three singers from the Gulf — representing the UAE (Humaid Al Abdouli), Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Majid Al Madani and Walid Al Gilani, still in the semi-finals) — passed the audition stage. Al Abdouli was voted out on October 25.
Since the contestant from Algeria, Ajrad Yoghrateh, was voted out last Saturday, there are no contestants from North African countries left. Viewers voted for one Egyptian in the semi-finals of Arab Idol this year, but the jury reinstated three more from Egypt. Syrian Hazam Sharif is a favourite to win.
Commenting on this year’s blend of talents, Hayek emphasised that MBC “has zero input on the nationalities who make it or don’t make it.”
“We have no interest in getting into [selection] because it doesn’t matter what the nationalities of those talents are,” he added, noting that the show’s main goal is to attract the best singing talent in the Arab world. He urged people to vote for talents, not nationalities.
A Japanese woman, who doesn’t speak Arabic, participated in the audition held in Dubai several months ago, but is not among the semi-finalists.
“This tells you that music travels beyond borders, frontiers and languages. This also tells you that these programmes are not only platforms of artistic self expression, they are also cross-cultural dialogue carriers,” Hayek said.
Last year, a young American woman who is learning Arabic was among the three finalists for another TV show, Arabs’ Got Talent, which is also run by MBC.
“I believe MBC has dealt with the issue with responsibility,” said Huneida Ganem, head of a Palestinian forum for Israeli studies in the West Bank. The Harvard graduate is a 1948 Palestinian.
“The question should not be whether to allow them to participate. Those people are Arabs and Palestinians standing against the Zionist plan since 1948 until today, and somebody wants to punish them for staying in their homeland, and cut any relation for them with the Arab world. This is not logical,” added Ganem.
Palestinians in 1948 areas are “preserving the existence of Palestinians in historical Palestine as well as the Palestinian identity,” she said.
