ArtView October 2013 | Page 25

deliver the news, people will judge her abilities the music they love and enjoy, but present it in based on what’s in her head, not what’s around it. English. We attract a lot of non-Arabic speaking One day Australia will get over their obsession and listeners and I think that’s a reflection of the fear of hijab and see veiled Muslim women as universality of Arabic music. You don’t have to Australians rather than some sort of foreign concept. understand the lyrics to enjoy it or feel a connection to it. We hope to follow the huge success of SBS PopAsia while also creating our own unique path to success. What has been the response to the program from audiences? So far, it’s been incredible. We are very new but once people discover the program on the channel they instantly fall in love with it, and it brings a smile to my face knowing we are offering people that little bit of fun and excitement in their day-today life. I get a lot of great feedback from listeners and they are always keen to tell me what they want to hear – which is fantastic because we want to cater to our listeners. Who are some of the artists who are most popular in this genre? It seems to be a female-driven industry at the moment – a lot of the listeners love to hear Nancy You are currently the host of PopAraby on SBS radio. What are the goals of this program, and what is the audience it caters for? Ajram, Haifa Wehbe, and of course the Queen of Arab Pop Najwa Karam. But we also have Egyptian male artists who dominate the charts including Amr Diab and Tamr Hosny. So it’s a mixture, but overall SBS PopAraby caters for all ages, but there is a I think the ladies take it out! special focus on young Middle Eastern people who love Arabic music, though perhaps may not speak the language. Our aim is to cater for them by playing What do you see as the influences on pop music from the Middle East today? Does it reflect