Riyadh Book Fair Fights 2011
For a very unhealthy book sellers/authors/readers market, they sure get passionate about book titles and fictional stories. I imagine Oprah’s book club would have a hard time meeting regularly in Riyadh.
Art
Music: Made in Saudi Vol.1 Mixtape
Hiphop in Saudi is gaining popularity at record rates, and more and more artists are starting to record their music . A couple of weeks ago I spent sometime with the cool guys at @RedsandAV and met a few cool cats who came to record their music there.
Today I came across this mixtape, which is called Made in Saudi Vol.1 and is made by hiphop artists in Saudi with a few skits from the merito man, Khalid Khalifa, the Saudi standup comedian.
It is cool to checkout their efforts, and there are a few jams that one can get into. The songs are in Arabic and English, showing the infusion that this upcoming generation is.
Enjoy
Rappers In Jeddah Saudi Arabia Freestyling
My friend Hassan (aka @big_hass) asked me if I was interested in helping him video an interview he was planning on doing with a couple of young rappers in Jeddah.
The interview took place near a basketball court in alrawda district, I thought no one would be there playing ball, but to my surprise it was full and loud.
We met the guys, all were extremely cool to be around, we did the interview and they freestyled.
Here is a teaser (YouTube or Vimeo 
Tim Granite, MohFlow, and Magic, three rappers living in Saudi Arabia doing their thing for ReVoltRadio.
Full Interview coming soon, so stay tuned
Film: I Love My Country
“I love my country, but my country is not mine”
An excellent short film by Areej. I think many people share those feelings… and not just in Saudi, artistic creations like this probably apply to many people around the world, which is why I think this will go very far.
Thanks to Ahmed for sharing
The Soundtrack of The Egyptian Revolution
This revolution has no face except apparently for FaceBook, it has no single voice except the voice of the people… but now, it has a soundtrack, and it is an instant classic in my book.
Some of the lyrics:
“Opening the floodgates like the streets of Jeddah”
“The inheritors of mother earth are meek”
“This is modern day signs, we just waiting on Jesus”
“They tried to say the revolution won’t be televised, AlJazeera proved them wrong, twitter has them paralysed”
It has been a while since a song made my heart beat so fast!
Hamdulillah Official Music Video
“To say ‘Hamdulillah’ is to be grateful for what one has.
The images of the past decades have cast a veil on our identity as a people. We, as international brothers and sisters, are now witness to injustice in real time. We watch our Wars in HD. Injustice is played in real time.
It is time for us to claim our faces back.
This video is a global collaborative effort by 10 photographers- from London to Lebanon, Cairo To Canada, Abu Dhabi to America- to create a portrait of the New Global Citizens. They are DJs, MCs, poets, architects, teachers, doctors, parents and children. Most of all they are people.
Thank you to everyone that was involved. We are blessed to have each other.”
A part of this video was shot in my home town Jeddah, and there is also a clip of my friend Big Hass at 1:53
The song was written by Yassin Alsalman (The Narcicyst) and Shadia Mansour. The lyrics are different in this song than the original Hamdulilah song, I love them both.
Arab-American Comedy
With Arab phobia and Islamopohbia seeming to be at a high point these days, I, being an optimist always looking at the bright side of things, like to see things like this come out. Nothing like comedy to diffuse things, and make us look at culture as what it is, a different way of viewing and living in this world, where we have no power in choosing the families we were born into, the religion we were raised as, the traditions and customs we live by, the color of our skin, or the genetics we were born with.
Comedy is the breaker of all barriers, and with the Axis of Evil Comedy tour, which did well, here come the Ed and Moe Show.
Here is a MTV Cribs style spoof, gotta love the scene where Moe’s mom throws her sandel at him
and here is one about Ramadan.
I think these guys will do well. (saw this at Kabobfest)
Be sure to like their facebook page, The Ed and Moe Show on Facebook