First cancellation of the year!

New Year's tourism

The Gregorian New Year is a festival of earthly delights. True, every year the religious sages in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries warn believers not to participate in this "non-Muslim" festivity, but judging by the busy cash registers on New Year's eve, a large number of celebrants would rather see Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram or Egyptian singer Amr Diab than avoid punishment in the world to come.

These popular vocalists take home between $80,000 and $360,000 in one night as they run from hotel to hotel to appear before a a pan Arab audience that has normally purchased tickets months in advance.

The price of a ticket to Ajram's performance at Lebanon's most luxurious hotel, the Phoenicia Beirut, was some $1,000 while the tickets to hear less popular singers cost between $200 and $450.

Beirut's airport also enjoys the spoils of New Year's eve. Instead of two or three weekly flights from the Gulf states, the planes come in daily and the tourists fill the hotels: their occupancy rate was between 95 and 100 percent over the holiday this year.

However the tourists in Lebanon were forced this year to forgo the main appearance of Amr Diab, even though tickets to his concert were sold out.

Diab decided to cancel his performance, for which every ticket had cost some $2,000, because he was not paid the advance that had been agreed upon with the producer, and it seems the producer has run off with the money.

In Egypt, Muhammad Munir's performance , due to take place outside the opera house, was canceled because of what the Egyptian interior ministry called "security considerations." More tickets had been sold than there were places in the square outside the opera house, and some 50,000 people massed at the entrance and caused a disturbance.

Despite the fact that the Muslim sages grate their teeth, Egypt is one of the prime winners during the Christian holiday season. In previous years, Cairo reported income of some $3 billion during the Christian holiday season. The sums swelled particularly during those years when Lebanon was at war and the tourists avoided going there. This year, Lebanon appears to have made up for previous years' losses. Link

Diab FM

In a new, unique, and stunning idea, Egyptian star, Amr Diab officially announced the launching of his own online radio station, DIAB FM. The channel will be avaliable only through the internet, and will provide fans with Amr Diab's music from the mid-80's to 2009 with his smash hit "Wayah." The radio station will also give all Diab's fan the latest and exclusive news and music, and will include interviews with Amr Diab's longtime friends, and co-operators, from producers, to writers, directors, composers, and arrangers.

Diab has also announced that the station will provide him with a new way of finding new talents in Egypt and helping them grow! All the presenters on the channel will be completely new, and chosen personally by him. For anyone (only in Egypt) who wants to have a chance to become a presenter on the station, all you need to do is call 5595 from a cellphone, and apply! All you need is having talent to become a successful presenter!

This is also the first step in Amr Diab's mega project to find a new generation of young talents to present them and help them as they continually attempt to succeed. The next step will include songwriters, composers, arrangers, and singers!
To listen to the radio station, visit diabfm.com now!

On another note, the promo for Diab's latest video clip 'Ba'dem Alby' was released on New Years Eve on his official website, facebook, and youtube channel! The video clip will be released on Valentines Day, but is expected to be released online before that! Link

Waleg's Best Arab Singers of 2009

The voting was closed yesterday and here are the winners according to your voting:Wael Kfoury came in first with 32% of your votes which means Wael Kfoury is Waleg's Best Male Arab Singer of 2009 according to Waleg fans, readers and visitors.

Surprisingly, Amr Diab came in second with 28% of your votes and third is Kathem Al Saher with 18%.