Hams Fekri Topped Winner of First Season of Saudi Idol

Hams Fekri, a 29-year-old Saudi wedding ceremony singer from Jeddah, has been topped the winner of the primary season of “Saudi Idol” throughout a transferring dwell finale from The Boulevard Riyadh Metropolis leisure complicated.

The golden-throated Fekri, whose mom had achieved success as a pop singer through the Nineteen Eighties, however subsequently pale into obscurity, hugged her personal younger daughter on stage. 

She was exultant after battling it out in entrance of a dwell studio viewers plus the panel of judges for 13 weeks and rising victorious out of three finalists to win most viewers votes for the night time.

Along with being named the very first “Saudi Idol,” Fekri additionally gained a recording contract with MBC Group’s Platinum Data label which includes the discharge of a full studio album within the coming months.

Following her win, Fekri expressed her gratitude to the viewers who voted for her, saying: “Everybody’s love and assist throughout this journey has made me a special particular person, and I hope to dwell as much as their expectations. I’m going to proceed to work more durable and more durable!”

She additionally paid tribute to Saudi Arabia, thanking the dominion, which is present process a serious cultural shift, for serving to to realize her dream.

The primary Saudi Arabian version of Fremantle’s international Idol franchise was produced by main Center East broadcaster MBC in tandem with Saudi Arabia’s Normal Leisure Authority.

Previous to the present’s finale, Selection spoke to Samar Akrouk, MBC Group’s director of manufacturing, concerning the challenges and thrills of pioneering the Idol format in Saudi Arabia as the dominion morphs right into a regional leisure hub and restrictions beforehand imposed by conservative clerics ease.

MBC produces plenty of Arab expertise exhibits. Do you take into account “Saudi Idol” significantly important when it comes to breaking cultural limitations? 

Such as you stated, we’ve had large success with “Arab Idol,” which is a pan-Arab model of the format. And earlier than doing “Saudi Idol,” the primary localized model we did was “Iraq Idol.”

That stated, MBC has been a pacesetter, or an enormous contributor, to this [cultural] change that you just’re seeing in Saudi Arabia, and has in all probability been on the forefront of it. I imply, we’ve been producing content material – I’d say progressive, tolerant, eye-opening content material – for years. And, by the best way, [before the country opened up] we might not have been producing this kind of content material in Saudi Arabia, however we had been producing it for the Saudi viewers. So the urge for food is there. Certainly, you can’t deny that there are many optimistic modifications which can be taking place in Saudi Arabia, and significantly on the planet of leisure. However I additionally assume that we’ve all the time been a part of this pattern. We’ve all the time been serving to to advertise and propel this pattern.

Are you able to speak to me concerning the “Saudi Idol” auditions course of?

I take into account Saudi Arabia to be extra like a continent, not a rustic. As a result of it’s large. So we went south, east and west to all the foremost cities. What we do is we ship the behind-the-scenes group throughout all of the areas. We acquire the tales — I name them “The Good, the Unhealthy and the Ugly.” These are the tales that we predict could make good tv content material. After which we carry them in and we do the auditions, which is what you see with the jury. So we coated a variety of cities. We had large turnouts from all these completely different cities and from – how can I say this – the completely different perception methods which can be in Saudi Arabia. We attracted all of them. They got here and so they made it on the present. 

The “Saudi Idol” jury options Saudi singer Aseel Abu Bakr, Emirati singer and actress Ahlam, Syrian singer Asala and Iraqi singer and composer Majed Al Mohandis. Not all of them are Saudis. How had been they chosen?

To start with, the jury needs to be picked based mostly on characters. You have to have sturdy characters and personalities on these exhibits. So it all the time begins from there. Even in our different exhibits, it doesn’t begin with nationalities. It begins with who we predict has the character and the character to hold these packages. So how did we select the jury? Nicely, they aren’t all Saudis. However all 4 of them have an enormous fan base in Saudi Arabia, and still have produced Saudi music. So, even when not by passport or by nationality, they’re Saudis. They’ve an enormous fan base there, and so they have mastered the artwork of Saudi music.

The jury can also be gender-balanced (two girls, two males) and the ladies aren’t carrying veils.

In fact, you additionally need to just be sure you have feminine illustration and male illustration. I need to level out that one of many jury members, Ahlam, truly began with us within the “Arab Idol” franchise. So it made sense to point out the expansion and the continuity of this format, and the way we took her from “Arab Idol,” and put her in “Saudi Idol.” That created a really good hyperlink or an extension, let’s say, of the model.

What concerning the veil? I do know Saudi shouldn’t be Iran. However I’ve been to Saudi lately and most ladies there have been veiled.

Sporting a veil is a matter of selection in Saudi Arabia, and within the Arab world usually. I do know that possibly folks don’t perceive that. However it’s truly a selection, and it’s a cultural factor. So you possibly can put on it, or you can’t put on it. And after we did our casting, I’d say about 30% of the ladies got here veiled. 

Are you able to give me an thought of the kinds of music on “Saudi Idol”?

Because it’s “Saudi Idol” and the contestants are Saudi, clearly the vast majority of the music is Saudi music which has a specific fashion to it. It’s heavy on percussion. Plenty of the songs on the present are Saudi. I’d say the break up is about 70/30 (70% Saudi, and 30% Arabic from elsewhere). So we take in style Saudi songs from the Saudi legends, whether or not they be Mohammed Abdu or Abadi Al-Johar, or Rabeh Saqer, and we create fashionable variations of their songs, and these younger skills are singing them. However the contestants usually are not simply singing Saudi songs, or re-engineered Saudi songs. They’re additionally singing different very talked-about songs from the area — Egyptian songs, Lebanese songs, however all the time re-engineered for his or her voice and their vocal vary 

Was there any Arab rap music on the present?

We don’t have a rapper on this season. However that doesn’t imply this isn’t one thing that we might need to embody subsequent time round. Generally, these exhibits are extra for a mass viewers. So rapping could also be a bit bit extra area of interest. Hip hop is big in Saudi Arabia. However whereas I’d love to incorporate them in this type of present, they may be deprived as a result of the opposite kinds of songs might have extra of a mass enchantment. However personally I believe that’s the subsequent factor that I’m speaking to MBC about: producing a present for rappers, about hip hop. It’s an enormous underground scene. Actually it’s not even underground anymore. It’s an enormous scene that pulls a lot of the Arab youth.

How have the scores been?

It’s doing very effectively. “Saudi Idol” has introduced eyeballs again to TV. It’s our primary non-football [soccer] present, I’ll put it to you that method. As a result of it was additionally competing with the World Cup, after which the resumption of the soccer [soccer] league. So it’s doing exceptionally effectively. It’s been our primary program in its time slot proper now, throughout the MENA area. Commercially, the present has to do effectively in Saudi Arabia, clearly, and it does. In order that’s our predominant market. However we’ve doing it with a imaginative and prescient that it must journey. And it actually has.

How vital do you assume “Saudi Idol” is in establishing Saudi Arabia as a regional leisure entity?

Saudi Arabia is turning into a regional hub. So producing in Saudi and attracting native expertise is nice, in and of itself. However that’s not the place we need to cease. We wish to have the ability to take the Saudi tradition, the Saudi ecosystem usually, and be sure that it transcends boundaries. When you’ve got a jury on “Saudi Idol” that’s as eclectic as ours, which can be Saudis and non-Saudis, that’s precisely what you’re doing. You are attempting to take the Saudi track, the Saudi expertise, and the Saudi tradition, and hope that it transcends these boundaries.

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.