k, sounds silly to ask. but if the lebanese can rap, they definitly can 'trance' as well. when i left leb there was a freak who raps, had an album, had a clip, and i suppose made money (apparently). i didnt understand it back then: how can someone rap in lebanese and ppl accept it? yet they can't (or might not) accept dance music (no lyrics at least, nobody makin fun of himself by lookin freaky or singin crap like rap)
before i go on, i'm sorry for bashin rap (for rap fans around here) and sorry for talkin bout the guy like that (if any of his fans r around)..so apologies granted..
when he 1st came up with his clip, i was laughin so hard: it was new, the lyrics were..dunno..just doesnt make sense..a random selection of words for a thesaurus.. soon i coped with the idea of other music genres on TV/radio (despite how pure or commercial it might be) i guess it's part of being lebanese to make fun of everything, no offence, i'm a lebanese myself.. but we dont take things like that seriously. too bad sometimes our relatively open minded parameters of thinkin sometimes clash to walls of ignorance and denial (no generalizing intended on both sides of the argument: we'r not all open minded nor r we all blocked out).. if all what we care for is sex and looks, then we can simply blend trance with those. if its ''cool'' (i hate this word a lot!) to be a trancer rather than a rapper, then we can make it look so. we're not dummies. we have will to do it, but all what we need imo is some support. but hey! all DJs came from their bedrooms 1st, all their productions came after years of money savin and ups and downs. financially, its cheaper to launch a dance video than a Haifa Wehbe video. if a bitch can pretend to sing by moanin on a mic and make money from that, then a young chab busting his arrse for hours in his bedroom to comeup with some mentally creative also should have a go. further more, he should be more recognized since his effort is individualistic. for labels (that i believe non of the existing ones is mature enough to adopt trance) its really cheap to film a dance video, u can have short clips of random selection, or a cartoon video, a cut from a club where ppl r dancing, and if u really want it complicated: an animation video and high resolution graphics can just do it..the beautiful thing in trance is that u understand it from ur own perspective, makin it a hugely satisfying genre of music rather than gettin ur brain stuck in the lyrics of arabic or any other vocal genre and decode them with ur imagination. in other words, ur limited by what the singer chants, not by what u want to understand, something which trance eliminates. a tune can be distressing in the mornin and euphoric in the evenin dependin on ur mood.. maybe its those who listen to that bag of shiite and buy the albums r givin the so-called artists a chance to make money by that and encourage their crap. maybe its us bein facinated by looks and women and clips (like RnB or hiphop full of black arrses swippin the camera lenses). sex sells. but we should be more dimensional. lets not try to pollute trance or trick ppl to like it through sex... (though this might not relate a lot; but like that completely retarded video of 'Call on me'..the tune is crap, but made it to #1 here coz there's women with g-strings and pumpin boobs in it...what a disgrace..what happened to music?..)
so what have we got for trance?
1) we have the DJs..i actually dont know a lot of them, but with amadeus on the top of the list and his name on flyers side to side with top names from PvD to Sasha goin
through to A&B and Corsten soon...and still yet to come...heard of Saeed Mrad and Guy Manokian (excuse my dictation mistakes) and remixes for Oum Kolthoom or maybe fairouz (which is a 'phenomena' i dont support at all)..i honeslty dont count those two (or others alike) as a trance or even dance DJs/producers. so i'll just stick to amadeus for the time being voted #1 in leb which is not fair enough for what he's doin for the scene.
2) mixfm is a great influencing factor with its trancy shows, and the DJs that have been to lebanon have been nowhere else in the region (i suppose appart from Egypt & UAE as arabs and of course Israel) even if they've been somewhere else, i guess we were ahead in queue.
3) we have plenty of venues. k not REALLY great ones, but its way better than not havin any at all as in some countries of the region. at least we have a scene that is really healthy and lebanon is being mentioned in top mags and DJ interviews who have been there. moreover, some DJs have shown their will to spin in Lebanon but still the right contacts hadnt come in.
4) there definitly is a struggling producer somewhere usin some software (or hardware doesnt really matter) tryin to come up with something. but sadly he might by faced by total disappointment and frustration. it's a struggle.
5) mix fm's DJ school. just stunning.point
what do we need as a 'push'? i think the following r necessary or at least should be considered if it was up to me:
1) production.. we need productions. if we can put our names on a tune and mark it as a 'lebanese work' it would be more than great. many producers dont DJ (like The Digital Blond/Ricky Smith) and vice versa.. i understand the financial burden of it, but m only targeting the will and creativity to do it basically.
2) record label..which is the other side of production process. we need one. only trance record label. not one of those scumbags..futher more, it doesnt have to be a lebanese label: if a producer can make it good enough to any european label then that's grant! u can make ur own label in ur bedroom, burn ur tune, sell it by urself to local music shops after designin a proper cover.
3) video/audio: a trance video can be made at home using a decent PC and 3Dmax or other software. money is no excuse for not 'filming' a trance video. however, the words -trance and video- are rarely compatible enough in one sentence. i only wanted to mention it to show how cheap it is to make a dance video (with the prescence of the necessary imagination and if a video is to be considered). i'm an anti-video trancer. i hate trance on TV, but if that's the way to feed it into the lebanese brain (which is through eyes, thank's to our materialistic obession). trance on TV is commercial by nature..i hope it wont be by content.u wont need women or whatever good lookin ppl or shootin scenes.
as for audio: well... i once suggested while chattin to Johnny to bang the radio at night with recorded sets and trance tunes from like 2am and on..but he said they dont do that. he named mixfm shows (that i have to be honest and say they rnt few at all). but if we can start at least by a 'trance day' once a week or twice a month? to add more options, lets not make it only trance..so we can add more options for listeners..how about 'dance day' or somethin like that?..if it was up to me, i'd have a dancefm... too bad it's not.. we cant bang trance into everybody's ear and freak them out, still though, we can give doses (higher than those we'r already giving) and encourage more ppl to join the evolution..
4) simply more lebanese DJs.. so amadeus can feel some cometition
no seriously, trance is huge. its so wide. i know, money and opportunities r the basic problem. but have we the will? if yea, then materialistics wont stand a chance. have we a go for it? or would we be only talkin, sighing, and fantasizing about it? is it a dream we'r so obsessed about to copy to life?
5) more psy (actually that's not necessary, but i have to say 'psy' in almost every post and i think i didnt yet)..u know?...yea...more psy..not only psy..lets just move on from melodic, progressive and uplifting trance a bit. what happened to ambient, goa, and hard trance? r we that protective for our ears? we r intellegent enough to understand it i suppose..anyway, the topic is about trance as a whole, dont want to drive it towards the 'psy vs melody' discussion i always lead. (yea and btw, i always win that discussion
*up yours* huh!)
how do u see it? what do u think of our scene?
PS: all what i said about the lebanese ppl is a personal opinion. as i said, im lebanese myself..and not offence was intended to anyone..no hard feelings..
hahaha....
