No doubt there will be teenagers queuing around the block when the Arab Idol tour hits the Dubai World Trade Center on Thursday night and the Palestinian winner Mohammed Assaf performs alongside the second season finalists.
While reality talent shows have been popular in the West for well over a decade, they have only recently exploded in the Arab world and many are imitations of western franchises.
Arab Idol, for example, is based on the high-rating British show Pop Idol. The Arab version follows a similar format as the search for a winning contestant is reached through an audition process involving judges and viewer votes. Arab Idol is currently ranked as the second most popular show in the UAE.
X Factor Arabia, based on The X Factor in the UK, is a rival show to Arab Idol and searches for outstanding groups, as well as solo artists. The Voice Arabia gets its twist from the fact contestants audition "blind" – the judges can't see them when they perform. And then there's Arabs' Got Talent which debuted in 2011 and is based on Britain's Got Talent. The show features contestants with a wide variety of talents such as break dancers, comedians, magicians and rappers.
While the show formats remain very similar to their western counterparts, cultural differences lie in the participants. In the western incarnations politics are taboo, whereas the contestants in the Arab shows are political by simply appearing in the competition. In the UK, no one would ever dream of asking a contestant their political views, whereas the Emirati singer and judge, Ahlam, for example, voiced her opinions on current affairs on Arab Idol.
The region is divided over the effect of reality shows. Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudais, the imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, has reportedly called the shows, “weapons of mass destruction that kill values and virtue”.
The parent’s perspective
Concerns
Denis Eugene Arackal, Dubai. Father to Amritha, 8, and Annie, 4
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