Someone in comments asked where he could watch these Haifa Wehbi and Nancy Ajram music videos of which I speak. It's always been hard to answer that - if you don't actually subscribe to Arabic channels, it's not so easy. You could buy video CDs or DVDSs on eBay, or scour the internet - both pretty hit or miss. But now, I've just discovered that the ever-delightful Bawaba.com has launched a music service: the top 40 songs and top 40 videos free on line. Right now, Nancy has the #1 video, and Haifa has #2 and #4 (including, at #2, "Bint al-Wadi", a compilation of clips from the reality TV show al-Wadi). The quality isn't great, but at least you can get an idea. So there you go - ain't the internet grand?
Other sources:
www.oghnia.com
www.mazika.com
www.rotana.net
www.orientaltunes.com
This is actually a rather thriving bit of the Arabic net.
Posted by: Jamal | October 31, 2005 at 01:49 PM
Thanks, Jamal - the Rotana site has never worked for me, maybe because I use a Mac. Oghnia is good, but often doesn't have the latest stuff, and the picture quality is terrible. The other two I haven't tried, but I will...
Also, I wanted to recommend sites for English speakers.. it isn't easy to navigate a site like that all in Arabic otherwise!
Posted by: the aardvark | October 31, 2005 at 02:18 PM
The quality is great if you select the right speed for your connection. Full screen DSL was wonderful.
Posted by: Dirk | November 01, 2005 at 09:52 PM