MTV in the Middle East

I’ve never seen a culture so obsessed with music videos. America a few years back—the era when MTV host Ananda Lewis was a role model for legions of pubescent YM readers, and Eminem rapped I go to TRL, look how many hugs I get so everyone knew just how great he was—was nothing compared to the Middle East of 2007. Forget fundamentalist Islam and homemade car bombs; music videos are what people here are devoting their energy to these days. Seven of the first twenty channels on my TV play music videos, ranging from the hip, glossy, ad-filled Melody Hits station to the more old fashioned Nojoom, which features men in traditional Arab garb playing the ‘oud (an Arab guitar).

Melody Hits, which broadcasts all over the Arabic-speaking world from the Gulf to Morocco, is a study in what happens when a conservative popular culture decides to become cool. Sure, the quick cuts, supersaturated color palette, and stylish production values are imported from MTV, but the videos are uniquely and very purposefully of their place. The music itself is distinctively Middle Eastern, favoring Arabic scales (think the Aladdin soundtrack) and throbbing drumbeats interspersed with flutes and jangling tambourines. Rarely do you find a singer too in love with soft-focus close-ups of their own face to bust a move; these divas, male and female alike, shake their hips, stick out their butts, and dance their way across the screen with skills that would put most American pop stars (Britney, for one) to shame.

Not that these music videos should necessarily be taken for reflections of reality in the Arab world. For one thing, after watching Melody Hits you would be left with the mistaken impression that most women here are light-skinned (apparently being pale is the ticket to fame), have long hair and big eyes, and wear formfitting clothing that reveals their back and shoulders. The women are pretty, to be sure, but frighteningly homogeneous, as if their faces all came from the same plastic surgeon. The men are more varied and not as uniformly attractive, but their look is always identical: dark gelled hair, open-neck shirt showing a V of tanned chest, one or two pieces of artfully placed jewelry on the throat or wrist.

My current favorite video is by the Lebanese singer Carole Samaha for her song "Adwa2 El Shohra." It's catchy, whether or not you understand what she's saying. And ain't she nice to look at?