For Those About To Iraq: Al-Waleed bin Talal's Army of Arabic Pop Stars

[Human Torch]

Rock the Casbah
Can an army of Arabic pop stars and their canny boss, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, stem the tide of Islamic extremism?
By Joseph Braude

http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/10/the_prince_of_pop.php



BACK OFF BEYONCÉ Haifa Wehbe in concert

During this summer's Arab-Israeli war, Beirut tabloids were filled with the expected denunciations of Israel, along with the occasional shot at Hezbollah for sparking the conflict by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. But they saved plenty of outrage for a local group of powerful elites they charged with wounding Lebanon's fighting spirit: a crew of sexy, wealthy pop stars, accused of fleeing by limo and private jet as soon as the going got tough.

"The first missile had barely been launched on South Lebanon," fumed music critic Iman Ibrahim in the online Arabic-language daily Elaph, "before most of the artists of Lebanon had packed their suitcases. They didn't forget to bring along their personal effects and jewelry when passing ... through Syria to whichever world capital they preferred, where they've gotten used to enjoying their private luxuries far away from the eyes of the camera." Among the first to skip town, wrote Ibrahim, was curvaceous Beirut beauty Haifa Wehbe, dubbed "the sexiest woman in the Middle East" by People magazine last spring—herself a native of the Shiite-dominated Lebanese south where Hezbollah enjoys the most support.

Behind the pundits' outrage lies the story of a revolution in Arab pop culture that started in Lebanon and has turned seductive young vocalists and dancing divas into influential public figures. In most Arab capitals recently, street protesters hoisted banners cheering Hezbollah and demanded that Arab elites adopt a similar stance. But Wehbe and other top-selling Arab pop stars don't answer to the Arab street. If they take orders from anyone, it's Al-Waleed bin Talal, the wily Saudi prince whose entertainment empire dominates Middle Eastern music and satellite television. A nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, the tall, wiry, mustachioed prince (whom Forbes called the fifth-richest man in the world) earned his fortune in the Saudi construction industry and once partnered with Michael Jackson to promote family values. He is also a major shareholder in Planet Hollywood and Euro Disney and made headlines last fall when his massive investment in News Corp stock protected Rupert Murdoch from a hostile takeover. Though surely buoyed throughout his career by family wealth, Al-Waleed is generally touted for having surpassed most Saudi princes in business acumen and creative energy. "Royals, in general, they earn their living by being royal," Saleh Al-Ghoul, an executive director for the prince's flagship Kingdom Holding Company, noted in Al-Waleed's authorized biography. "What made him different is that he earned his way."

Back in the mid-'90s, Prince Al-Waleed noticed that millions of Arabs were installing rooftop satellite dishes and tuning into American MTV, French soft porn, and the then-fledgling Al-Jazeera. If a homegrown, alternative news network like Al-Jazeera could take off, he reasoned, a similar venture might well succeed in pop culture. "There was a gap, there was an opening," the prince recalled in an interview with biographer Riz Khan. "Whenever I see an opening, I like to fill it."



THE PRINCE OF POP Al-Waleed bin Talal