Now young people who speak Arabic will have MTV. Before the end of 2007, at least according to an unconfirmed report in the Arabic daily Al-Sharq al Awsat sold in London, MTV is to launch its Arabic version – reaching a total of 29 languages that are broadcast all over the world. The project has been on the cards for some time and the idea circulated for the first time last summer, but it didn’t have an Arabic partner with whom to develop the music channel.

MTV for everyone. A deal has now been agreed between MTV, a network founded in 1981 and controlled by the US holding Viacom Inc., and The Arabian Television Network (ATN) of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. As in every MTV project developed in individual countries, video programmes showing world famous artists feature alongside programmes devoted to the local music and musicians. The new music channel will be called MTV Arabiya and has the potential to reach high listener ratings, given that around half of mother-tongue Arabic speakers are under 25. The deal has already attracted the two entertainment giants in the Middle East who currently control the music industry in the region: the Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, owner of Rotana TV, a music channel linked to a record label launched in Beirut, and the owners of Melody Music, another 24-hour video themed channel that has been very successful. And it is precisely this aspect that evokes curiosity, given that MTV has previously been considered a typical product of Western culture that is seen as decadent and degenerate by the more conservative of the Islamic clergy.

To suit all tastes. So the surrounding controversies have not gone unmissed, but the huge success of the examples given show how the issue of music sensitivity for the young is very far from their theological needs. The success of Rotana TV and Melody Music is not linked to artists who follow strictly follow Islam, but is rather a kaleidoscope of energy that represents all the people that share the Arab and Muslim world.
Two examples lead the way: Haifa and Sami Yusef. The first is a beautiful Lebanese girl, the Paris Hilton of the Middle East. She is not mocked for her superficiality, at least not by her adoring fans who block up her website every day with thousands of contacts. Even the newspaper Akhbar al-Yom has accused the CIA of using Haifa as a weapon with which to strip the Arab world of its cultural values, yet in the meantime the enchanting singer continues to sell thousands of CDs and to entice her faithful listeners. Meanwhile Sami Yusef, a British citizen from Azerbaijan, is the International Islamic pop idol. In 2003 he sold a million copies of his first album where lyrics inspired by religion were sang in English, Arabic, Hindi and Turkish. In his last effort he launched an appeal towards the unity of the Islamic Community, without sounding like a preacher of religion by using the language of young people and tuning himself towards them. We have music to suit all tastes and MTV will do no less, increasing what’s on offer to satisfy the growing demand of young Arabs. And it could be the occasion for a two-way exchange, that not only brings the so-called Western style to young Arabs but which also allows young Westerners to learn about a more dynamic and rich world than that which the media presents.