Chilean Article
Appeared on La Tercera Newspaper - Chili

English Translation:(by Schamsennahar)

'Pop Among wars'
Amr Diab ---> POP

The attack on the Twin Towers and later the military offense that US made in Afghanistan was the cheapest and most effective marketing campaign that has had a compiled disc: Middle East, the Music has Come Back, anthology of popular singers of the Arab world, was launched a couple of months ago in Chile and has already 20 thousand copies sold. The antecedent moved the same record label to look among its memories for an album dated the 2000, of one of its main stars, the Egyptian Amr Diab.

One of the most massive and westernized of the musicians of the Middle East, Diab had few years ago a blow of popularity in Chile with his disc Habibe, and if not mediating a warlike conflict, his next album would have been hardly edited in this places. But the singer hasn't left his career to international joints and less has re-floated with the crusade against the Taliban. His work extends for two decades, and scores collaborations with occidental musicians. Has like 20 published disks and to dimension his figure someone said he was the Ricky Martin of Egypt.
More than Ricky Martin, in age and style Amr Diab could be in his country what Fher, Maná band vocalist, is in Mexico: a gallant of forty-something years old, lover of styles fusion. But although one of his songs (Alby Ekhtarak) has a lot of proximity with another that united Fher with Santana (Corazón Espinado), Diab doesn't deserve to be compared with an occidental star. Without being a purist, his music has religious inspiration and rescues various Arabic rhythms that season a fusion of occidental pop.

Like anyone, Diab can take four accords and build a romantic ballad, oriented to the worldwide radios. In fact, he has two very conventional, Tamally Maak (Always with You) and Baateref (I Confess), that however introduce an attractive rhythmic and vocal variation, starting from a measured fusion of instruments. With more fineness and authenticity than a singer like Shakira, the Egyptian is opened to other cultures without betraying his own: El Allem Allah (God Knows), sacred version of Ojos Así, achieves a moving climate with the help of laments and rhythms of samba and flamenco.
But definitely is a song like We Heya Amla Eih (How is she doing) where Amr Diab resists all influence and shows in all its dimension the harmony of the Middle East, emotive and twilight, on the edge of the dissonance to the western ear. A very unusual style for the radial parameters.

Amrdiab.ca Note: Checkout the Chilean band La Pe Copying Amr Diab's Song Amarain; this article and the fact that some Chilean singers are affected by Amr's music is a cool evidence of Amr's popularity in south America


* Special thanks goes to our Chilean affiliate: Schamsennahar