This article was published in Al Ghad newspaper on Wednesday 14-5-2008. Recently I noticed several signs that show commercial music in the Arab world was actually suffering a slow down, at the same time alternative Arabic music seems to be gaining more and more power. More and more musicians and bands are abandoning the mainstream ship and steering away from pop, commercial music into uncharted waters. Actually they're not even attempting to get on board a ship, which I argue in this article, is sinking.

In the article below, I draw attention to the spirit and soul with which the new oriental sounds kinda folk make their music. They are not after the dough, but rather after a message, or maybe a true feeling that they found music to be the medium for.

Good news for the alternative folk. One of the Arab World's largest record labels decided to cut its record prices down a hefty 70%, under the pretext of fighting piracy, but observers say the reason boils down to the fact their sales are facing a staggering drop, seeing that "consumers" aren't buying such records as they used to (Hurray!). This company is very main stream with several incidents of Arab singers preferring not to renew their contracts with it seeing they were left feeling "sucked out of their souls," as one such performer told the press recently.

This article mentions a big number of alternative Arab musicians, with great focus on:

• Bigg from Casablanca (see his Myspace page). Bigg is an MC who sings about his community's concerns, and who expresses ideas that resonate with his generation. Last year he released a hit song called "El Khofe" (Fear) in which he challenges fear of authority, be it the police, capitalists or mainstream social pressure groups. Bigg gives rap and MC-ing its special, localized flavor. I had the honor of performing the song with him and other Music Matbakh musicians at Le Boulevard Festival last year in Casablanca, as part of a Music Matbakh tour in the UK & the Arab World.
• Dam, an Arab-Israeli rap band that refuses to view itself as an Israeli entity and refers to itself as Palestinian (Myspace page here). Dam are a music resistance band, they tour the world and tell people about what they believe is "occupation" of their land. In one of their songs last year they question the term "terrorism." The song, dubbed "Who's the Terrorist?" (Meen Erhabee), says (In Arabic): "Who is the terrorist? You are the terrorist? Who is the terrorist? I am the terrorist? How come I'm the terrorist when I'm living in my own country? You've oppressed me while I'm living in my own country; you've killed me like you've killed my ancestors."