There’s been a lot of press covering Saudi Rap, Hip-Hop, and Metal music over the past couple of years. Now, apparently, there’s also Saudi R&B (Rhythm & Blues) and this time, it’s a Saudi prince (albeit a minor one) doing the singing and writing.
This piece, from True/Slant blog, tells the tale of Pr. Faisal bin Mansour bin Thunayan Al-Saud and his musical aspirations. It also quotes the Jerusalem Post saying that the prince’s ambitions have run into a wall in the royal family, though the accuracy of that is yet to be determined. The link below to True/Slant also has an embedded video of one of the prince’s songs. Not bad, including the message!
Saudi royal becomes R&B singer
A Saudi royal recently attempted to give himself a makeover… as an R&B star.
Prince Faisal bin Mansour bin Thunayan al-Saud, member of a cadet branch of the House of Saud, just came out with two Islamic-themed R&B songs about family values and suicide prevention. While that may sound strange, there are approximately 7000 Saudis who belong to the House of Saud — most of whom are obscenely rich. Odds are that one of them had to attempt a pop music career sooner or later. Faisal bin Mansour is the son of one of King Abdullah’s 36 brothers.
Prince Faisal’s first two songs were posted to his personal website, Islam is Eternal. The site offers a pop star-style photograph of Faisal, along with free downloads of the songs “Dear Mother Dear Father” and “Never Too Late.”
“Never Too Late” is a religiously-themed anti-suicide PSA track with a professionally made music video:
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January:07:2010 - 11:37
John,
If you didn’t write that this video was from a Saudi Prince and if it didn’t have those veiled women, it was not possible to make out this was a Saudi video! This post took me by surprise as I was under the impression Saudi Arabia didn’t allow musical performances. Does a prince get concession or is performance of music allowed there?
Contrary to English, rain has a very positive connotation in Indian languages – it symbolises happiness and end of misery, since monsoons come in India after intense heat of summer. Is it the same in Arabic since Saudi Arabia has a desert climate? In that case shots in rain can be read as positive counterpositions to the scenes of suicide attempts.
He does have a good sense of rhythm. And very aesthetic visuals too. The mixing of cultures as in the veiled “Indian” woman wearing a bindi is quite striking! She does look very Indian, though her name suggests she is Arab (here is an example of “profiling system”
). Also the veils are not black but colourful, don’t cover the face and don’t really hide the figure. These are quite stylish veils – perhaps an attempt to convey the message of breaking free of constrains while spreading the message of Islam as a strong support system simultaneously. That’s a very positive effort by him.
I have a feeling his music has good market in India.
Is there any traditional Arabic music also growing there? What traditional forms of music are there?
Thanks for this beautiful video.
January:07:2010 - 13:11
Strict Salafis/Wahhabis believe music to be forbidden, at least that which uses anything other than drums or the voice. Apparently, since only those find mention in the Quran, everything else is forbidden. Most Saudis, also apparently, don’t agree with that as music channels, CDs, and other music recordings are extremely popular. I don’t think the prince got a concession; he just went with the popular flow.
Whether that got him into trouble with the family, I’ll leave to a Saudi observer to relate…
January:07:2010 - 14:02
I don’t know why this would get him into trouble. The music industy is huge in the Middle East. We have lots of video channels that are primarily Arabic and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal owns Rotana which is a huge record label in the ME. In fact, Prince Faisal’s themes are a lot more conservative than alot of what’s out there.
http://www.rotana.net/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
January:07:2010 - 14:33
[...] here to read the rest: Saudi R&B | Crossroads Arabia Share and [...]
January:07:2010 - 14:50
It is not terrible, but there are number of much better singers out there who sing on Muslim topics (Sami Yusuf is a one example). This guy just isn’t good enough. He had better keep his day job.
January:07:2010 - 16:20
Those of us who prefer R&B might disagree!
January:08:2010 - 02:33
I second John.
January:08:2010 - 04:28
John,
So that means there is no ban on music, it’s just a salafi/wahhabi opinion. If there was a ban all this music industry wouldn’t have grown. How much can the salafi/wahhabi opinion influence the law to impose a ban on anything? And does the royal family come under the perview of these laws or is the royal family exempted?
January:08:2010 - 04:52
I think that people should be allowed to express themselves the way they want as long as they are not physically hurting others. Let God be the Judge!
On the music…well it was O.K. and obviously there were people who liked it, so why pull it? He seemed to be sending a postive message. It is never to late to correct your life no matter what area it is. Never too late to make it better. Pick up the pieces and make it better. I guess that message is anti-Islamic. I don’t know. Perhaps there is a faction of Al-Sauds who are against that message and happy with the status quo or perhaps they have even cornier ideas on how to pick up the pieces. I value diversity. Stop promoting sameness! To each his own furry creature.
Words can heal words can destroy…his words were good ones. Not everyone agrees because there are people who want to wipe out diversity and promote sameness. My suggestion: Get on your spaceship and go to your own planet if you are going to force me to be anything other than I want to be. I am living my life and at peace with those who are different as long as they aren’t trying to blow my brains outta my head.
January:08:2010 - 04:59
Daisy, your last question at post 8 is a very good one. That could have been the argument of someone in the royal family to have had reason to convince him or his family to have pulled his music. However, that is a very weak argument because John posted a while back on a all girl rock band in Jeddah. Their debut song was called “Pinoccio”. That was a song I really enjoyed and downloaded on my ipod. I listen to it frequently.
The Saudis royals are exempted from a lot and have been so more in the past. King Abdullah tried to change that with his statement that no one is above the law. However the law seems to be its own fuzzy creature because it is under revision. Saudi exemption from law has caused people much harm and that is why so many people dislike them. Not all are bad like I say and I hate to label all of them because that is predujice.
January:08:2010 - 05:01
I meant to say “Saudi Royals who are exempted from the law has caused”. When I go back to edit, it is very difficult because of the screen. I want to clarify my words to people.
January:08:2010 - 05:24
Let me add this Prince would have been a somewhat overt exemption but the covert exemption continues.
Btw, my kids got food poisoning at a place that was exempt from inspection and licensing because of it being owned by a princess. I always say payment is always extracted in one form or another and it has been so extracted.
I am sooo satisfied
I wouldn’t exchange the experience if I could. I want to thank the people who refused to call to accountability and did the cover up. I am forever grateful because it has turned me into even more of an activist who will not stop until my last breath on my death bed. It awakened me to the suffering of the common man and shed light on so many issues!
January:08:2010 - 06:22
Sparky,
Why do you call it anti-Islamic? I thought suicide was anti-Islamic and he is helping people to come out of such negative tendencies, have faith in God and go for positive actions. I thought this video was in line with Islam because it spoke against suicide. How is this message anti-Islamic?
John,
How have his musical aspirations been treated exactly? The news report says he may not be able to record his 2 songs because singing is forbidden and suicide is taboo. But as I said he is speaking against suicide and is singing banned or is it just considered wrong by the salafis? If it is banned how is the music industry flourishing there? If Rotana can operate there how can a prince not record his song? Can you please clarify?
January:08:2010 - 09:03
As to the ‘how much’ question, the answer is likely ‘not a lot’. During the early 80s, there were efforts by the religious police to shutter stores selling cassette tapes and women were banned from entering those stores. As cassettes have largely gone by the wayside and internet purchasing is big, I think influence has probably stopped. But technically, satellite TV dishes remain illegal in the Kingdom.
January:08:2010 - 09:12
Daisy, No, I can’t clarify! I only know what was in that piece, which also quoted an Israeli paper.
I don’t think there are good, coherent arguments against his performing or his music. It could be a profound theological issue, but it could also be, “I don’t want my son being some tawdry public performer! Next thing you know, he’ll be on drugs with hundreds of women hanging off his arm…’
In Saudi Arabia, father always knows best, unless grandfather disagrees.
January:08:2010 - 09:41
I think you are right – it has more to do with the royal family’s reputation than its Islamic validity or a legal issue, though rather than saying it is a matter of reputation, they may project it as a religious or legal issue. That’s a typical behaviour of the royals anywhere in the world.
January:08:2010 - 09:44
Don’t forget ‘tradition’ as one of the brakes on progress!
January:08:2010 - 09:56
yes, but royal families, especially Saudis, don’t seem to be that “traditional” in their personal lives. I recenly read a news about one Saudi princess that she had an IDL and was all set to drive if only the ban was lifted – and her photograph from nowhere showed her as traditional. But, They invoke tradition when it serves their public or political need.
January:08:2010 - 10:25
I can remember standing outside music stores waiting for the men in the group to go in and buy what we wanted.
John, I don’t think dishes are illegal anymore. I can’t remember when it shifted- but it seems I remember hearing about it. And until that time, people were smuggling in dishes, you couldn’t buy them legally. Now with Orbit and Showtime, having offices everywhere, and selling their subscriptions and sending out their technicians to install and maintaint the dishes- I don’t think it could possibly be illegal anymore.
We also now have a big Virgin Records in town which is nice.
January:08:2010 - 13:53
Daisy concerning my post 9 in which I said, “Maybe that message is anti-islamic” was sarcasm. That is hard convey in writing only
Suicide is forbidden in Islam, and I have read that the person who does is doomed to repeat it again and again in the hell fire.
People care a lot about reputation here for all the wrong reasons.
January:08:2010 - 17:26
Never too late is a great anti-suicide song. It covers a variety of methods, and targets the audience most at risk: young, alienated, using drugs. It conveys to me a clear message that faith in Allah and disregarding the judgments of others will protect one from depair and suicide, and that it is never too late to live a good life.
Very well done, and I liked the music and visuals well enough, to.