KFAR AL-KHADAR, West Bank – It’s Thursday night, and the crowd files rapidly
through the metal detectors at the entrance to the impressive
auditorium. Dressed in glittery frocks and suits, the men and women
chatter excitedly while holding on tightly to oversized banners with glossy
portraits of the performers they are about to see.
While the scene is
reminiscent of the pre-show buzz at just about any theater in the world, what
makes this night special is that it’s the first live show in the countdown to
the final round of New Star. The show, which will reach its climax on May 26, is
the only televised Palestinian singing contest – think American Idol or
Britain’s
X-factor – and the twice-weekly episodes are being held at the brand
new Palestinian Convention Center in Kfar al-Khadar, just south of
Bethlehem.
“The whole world thinks that Palestinians just throw stones,
but we want to prove to everyone that we are not all members of Hamas. There are
Palestinians who like to sing and dance and perform,” states Samer Hamam, owner
of the Haifa satellite television company Mix TV, which produces and promotes
the program together with Palestinian news agency Maan.
Speaking in
flawless Hebrew, Hamam adds, “We are so used to hearing bad news in this part of
the world, and people complain or talk all the time about the occupation. We
just wanted to give them the opportunity to talk about something else. We wanted
to give them a form of escapism.”
And escapism is exactly what New Star,
which kicked off earlier this year with auditions across the West Bank, Gaza and
Israel, has become to a rapidly growing number of Palestinians locally and
beyond.
“We are getting responses from the whole world. There’s even a
Saudi Arabian channel that has been broadcasting it live!” exclaims Hamam,
describing how this year’s show is actually a follow-up to a much smaller first
season that focused almost exclusively on Arab-Israelis or Palestinians living
in Israel.
The first series, he says, was such a huge hit that the
company decided to expand it to contestants from the West Bank and Gaza for the
second season. With the success of New Star 2, Hamam says he is already
planning to open it up to Palestinians living all over the world.
“We
expected it to get a lot of attention, but not to the level it has achieved,” he
states, estimating that today its ratings among both Palestinians living in
Israel and those across the Green Line have reached roughly 28 percent. While
most Israeli Arabs receive Mix TV via a special satellite dish that picks up
channels from across the Arab world, Israelis using only the local satellite or
cable companies here cannot see the show at all.
Hamam says the idea to
launch a Palestinian version of American Idol – even the hi-tech opening credits
and the panel of three critical judges is reminiscent of the US show – came
about when his brother and business partner, Amir, considered trying out for a
Lebanese television singing show.
“As an Israeli he was not able to go to
Lebanon, and I thought, ‘If this guy doesn’t get into some kind of competition,
then he’ll fall into a deep depression,’” Hamam says of his brother, pointing
out that auditioning for the Israeli show
A Star is Born, which is in Hebrew and
features local tunes, is less ideal for an Arab singer here.
“When we
first launched, we did receive some death threats from people who said it wasn’t
conservative enough, but we explained to them that religious singers were
welcome, too, and that we wanted it to be reflective of all the Palestinian
people, both secular and traditional,” continues Hamam, adding that there were
also those who believed such a program would not show the reality of the
Palestinian struggle.
“We told them that allowing people to feel
happiness in life will also help the people to survive,” notes Hamam, adding,
“The Palestinian nation is no less happy or talented than other Arab nations,
and we just needed someone to pull them out of the cupboard and show the world
that.”
BESIDES AIMING to unite Palestinians dispersed throughout the
world,
New Star also pulls together a wide variety of people from both sides of
the ongoing local conflict. While a vast majority of the contestants are Arabs
from villages and towns from within Israel’s borders, behind the scenes the
production team is a wonderful mix of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Israeli
Jews.
“At first they were scared to come in and help us,” says Hamam of
the two Jewish production companies that have been working with New Star since
its inception. “But I think now they realize that not everyone is an
extremist.”
“We come here every week, and we all work well together; the
atmosphere is very professional,” comments Ilan Hamsh, a production manager with
Yagur Studios based near Haifa, as he takes a break from the show’s final
broadcasting preparations.
“We also worked on
A Star is Born, and the
feeling was very different. Here, the people are a lot warmer and there
is less competition between everyone,” he observes.
Hamsh’s boss, Nir
Peer, surmises, “It’s a different mentality here, of course, but professionally
there is no difference. We are all partners and we all speak the language
of television.”
As the technicians – both Israeli and Arab – sit down to
enjoy a last cigarette before the show goes live, one of New Star’s big stars,
Prof. Ghawi Ghawi, who judges the contestants together Habib Shehadeh and
Nisreen Faour, explains why it’s so important for Israeli Arabs and Palestinians
to have their own singing show.
“In Israel’s show, A Star is Born, it is
simply not acceptable to be an Arab; all the songs are in Hebrew, and they don’t
accept someone singing in Arabic,” says the Nazareth-based professor, who
teaches in both Israeli and Palestinian universities. “This show is a chance for
Arab Israelis and Palestinians to be involved in a contest on an international
level and for them to become really famous.”
Asked if the show was just
another escape from the regional conflict, Ghawi, whose kind but cutting remarks
could make him comparable to the dreaded Simon Cowell in the US and UK versions
of the show, says: “It is impossible to switch off sections of our lives; we
have problems here that simply cannot be ignored. But I am happy to see that
this show is, in a way, bringing people together.”
UPSTAIRS IN the room
where 12 of the 24 finalists wait to go on stage, the atmosphere is tense but
jovial.
“I don’t see this as a competition; I see it as friendship,” says
the huskyvoiced Hadil Rishmawi, who is sitting quietly and is already decked out
in an exuberant turquoise taffeta gown with silver sparkles sprinkled over her
olive skin. “I really believe I have made a family here, and for me they are
beautiful friends and beautiful souls.”
The 21-year-old, who grew up in
Ramallah and is a student at Bir Zeit University, says that before being on the
show, she had very little contact with “pre-’48 Palestinians.”
“They’re
not Israelis, we’re all Palestinians, so I call them pre-’48 Palestinians,” she
explains. “It’s my first time meeting people from Israel, but they’re really
cool, modest and funny.”
Rishmawi affirms her excitement at having made
it to the final round.
“For me, this is a gift from God, and I am using
it to sing the very best classic Arabic songs,” she says proudly.
“Some
people say Palestinians are primitive, but we are just as progressive as anyone
else, and we love culture and music, too.”
She adds, “This competition is
so important because it allows us to show the world that Palestinians are not
just sitting doing nothing while we live under occupation. We are doing what we
want and are not depressed all the time; we are living human beings like other
people, and we do all the same things as other people.”