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News
Headlines
December
2002
Page
5
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Iraqis
find solace in U.S. music
back up
Source: The Toronto Star
Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys a hit in Baghdad
Shopkeeper sells counterfeit cache of Western tunes
By: MITCH POTTER
BAGHDAD—In a land fully fraught with questions about
what fresh hell the future will bring, there is at least one
hideaway in the Iraqi capital offering surprising sounds of
solace.
Tucked inconspicuously among a row of tiny stalls along
Baghdad's popular Arasat concourse is Ghost Music Shop.
Here, the soundtrack of the once and future enemy is stacked
three metres high, compact discs of everyone from Elton John
to Britney Spears to Backstreet Boys.
Considering the Iraqi regime's reputation for unrelenting
cultural control, Ghost is among a small but growing number
of retailers presenting a remarkably broad range of Western
pop culture. Even rappers Tupac, Dr. Dre and Eminem are
front-racked on these shelves.
Owner Saad Yousef, 40, is unabashedly thrilled with his
inventory, a mix of pop, disco, rap, techno and alternative
rock. Though he has never set foot in the English world, he
speaks the language well "just from listening to the
music."
For Yousef, the distinction between Western culture and
Western aggression is easily made. "I love the American
people. I love the music, the movies, everything. If just
once I could visit Hollywood, my life would be
complete," he says.
"It is the American leadership that terrifies me. I
think George Bush is a scary man."
A parade of teenage Iraqi girls crowds the shop to buy the
latest from Backstreet Boys, the current top seller. Shakira,
says Yousef, is Number Two.
Yousef says that when he launched the store in 1997, the
Ministry of Information furnished him with a black list of
product forbidden for sale.
Topping the hit list of the Iraqi thought police is Boney M.
The 1970s pop group may be a faded memory for most, but in
Iraq they are Number 1 with a bullet among forbidden sounds.
The knock against Boney M is twofold; not only have they
performed in Israel, a long-time enemy of Iraq, the group is
best-known for its hit "Rivers of Babylon," the
timeless tale of Jewish exile which saw tribes of Israel
land between the Tigris and the Euphrates — the heart of
modern-day Iraq.
Yousef turns slightly pale when a visiting reporter points
out the discs of several other artists whose concert history
includes visits to Israel, Madonna and Radiohead among them.
But then he shrugs. "With this rule, eventually you
would have to eliminate all music. I don't think that is
possible."
Another English-speaker hanging around the shop —
"I'm the biggest rap fan in Baghdad," he proclaims
— suggests Iraqi security police have bigger things to do
right now than monitor youth culture.
The continuing economic sanctions against Iraq have affected
its cultural life in myriad ways. For the Iraqi National
Orchestra, even the task of replacing violin strings is a
sometimes insurmountable challenge. The Iraqi film industry
has all but imploded, unable to develop what it shoots; by
default, however, live theatre is flourishing.
For the music lovers of Ghost, the sanctions are a
double-edged sword. On one hand, nobody in the store can
name a single foreign pop star who has performed here in
living memory.
On the other hand, CDs cost 2,250 Iraqi dinars — about
$1.75.
Asked how he can sell for so little, Yousef pulls back a
curtain behind the counter to reveal a five-bay digital
duplicator. He counterfeits.
"This is what everyone does in Iraq. Because of the
sanctions, we can't import legally," he explains.
"So I get one copy of a disc either from Syria or
Jordan — or if it's a really special artist, I will have
it sent to me by friends in America. And then we just make
copies. We also photograph the covers and reprint them
beautifully."
Indeed, a disc of Céline Dion, the only Canadian artist to
be found on these shelves, could easily pass for an
original.
Yousef looks perplexed when queried on whether it matters
that the artists earn no royalties on his method of
business.
"I'm sure the record companies are angry, but we live
under an embargo so what are we supposed to do?
"All I really care about is that people can enjoy the
music. We need this to survive, to stay connected to the
outside world."
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New
Tour and Album for 2003?
back up
Source: Launch
Backstreet Boys are eyeballing a new album and tour for
2003, despite recent legal problems with its Jive Records
label. Nick --whose new solo album, Now Or Never, is said to
be responsible for the turmoil--tells LAUNCH that he expects
the quintet to
break some new ground when it reconvenes in the studio:
"I'll be honest with you, you know, we're gonna have to
definitely change some things around," he says. "I
want to do another album, but we're gonna have to evaluate
that situation, and that's what we're gonna do. Of course,
the times have changed from that, that whole pop era.
Hopefully this is what I can do,is bring a new vibe to the
band, you know? And when I
do go back and do another album, I can put my input in and
be, like, 'Yo, let's try something like this now,' you know
what I'm saying?"
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Backstreet
Boy on Broadway
back up
Source: Katrillion
By: Valerie Nome
Who would've guessed that the Backstreet Boys would take
their cues from
*NSYNC's Joey Fatone?
First, Brian Littrell's wife Leighanne gave birth to a baby
boy this November, becoming the second father of the Jive
boy band bunch. Joey's longtime girlfriend, Kelly Baldwin,
brought a bouncing baby girl into the world in 2001.
Now, Kevin Richardson is following the career path Joey
paved. Kevin, 31, is set to star in the Broadway rendition
of "Chicago" beginning Jan. 20. Joey played Mark
Cohen, the narrator in Broadway's "Rent" this
fall.
For his turn on Broadway, Kevin suits up as the shady lawyer
Billy Flynn. Other stars who have filled the role include
Billy Zane, Taye Diggs and "Six Feet Under" star
Michael C. Hall.
Joey and Kevin aren't the only superstars who can be seen on
the Broadway stage. "The Sopranos" starlet
Jamie-Lynn Sigler currently plays Belle in "Beauty and
the Beast."
Broadway is a common stop for pop stars in their
off-seasons. Madonna was seen in "Speed-The-Plow,"
Deborah Gibson starred in "Beauty and the Beast"
and The Party's Deedee Magno played the lead role in
"Miss Saigon."
Of course, the off-Broadway play "Ruthless" was
just the beginning for nine-year-old Britney Spears.
-
Lupus
Cruise Sets Sail On Sunday back
up
Source: Launch.com
By: Jason Gelman, New York
Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough's third annual Lupus Cruise
to benefit his Dorough Lupus Foundation sets sail from Miami
on Sunday (December 15) for a seven-day adventure aboard the
Carnival Victory. Dorough, his sister Pollyanna, and the
rest of his family will be on board as the Victory visits
ports in the Eastern Caribbean, including San Juan, St.
Maarten, and St. Thomas.
The Dorough Lupus Foundation is an independent, nonprofit
organization founded by Dorough and his family shortly after
his sister Caroline Cochran died from the disease in 1998.
Dorough explained to LAUNCH, "I unfortunately lost one
of my sisters, Caroline Cochran, to the disease Lupus four
years ago on December 12. Actually, right after it happened,
her doctor said, 'You know what I know the Backstreet Boys,
and you guys do a lot of charity work and are very
supportive to other foundations, but have you ever thought
of creating your own Lupus foundation, and using your
'celebrity status' to try to promote awareness?' I felt it
was going to be hard for me to do it all on my own, but then
with talking with my family we decided to create the Dorough
Lupus Foundation."
The Foundation aids in research and education, and in
providing financial assistance to organizations that help
people living with Lupus who cannot afford treatment.
"That's one thing that we really pride ourselves
in," said Dorough. "We keep the administrative
costs down low and really give a bulk of the money towards
research, and towards education, and towards assisting
families that can't afford to pay for treatment."
Dorough added that he's preparing to head back to the studio
with the Backstreet Boys next year, and he's also planning
future events to raise money for his Foundation:
"Probably we'll be back in the studio after the
beginning of the year, so between now and then I'm gonna try
and do as much as I can, as well as take a little bit of
time off for the holidays, so we're gonna see. We're
actually in the process of planning for the next three
months. We were talking about maybe doing a Hard Rock
tour--a lot of unofficial stuff."
Meanwhile, the annual cruise has raised more than $85,000
for the Dorough Lupus Foundation thus far. For more
information on the Foundation, please visit doroughlupusfoundation.org.
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