This song’s niceness is clear. The beat gets your head nodding, the hook is catchy and insightful, and even if you can only understand half the verses, you know it’s deep. The video is directed by Laith Majali (Amman) and shot on location in L.A. and Beirut, and the record was mixed by The Narcicyst (Montreal) — this is East-West Arab-American-Canadian collaboration at its finest. Watch and enjoy: subtle but clever camera work, two places in balance and a richness that makes you want to watch it again. Omar’s solo debut and Laith’s directorial debut in the music world is nothing but a success.

Download “Destiny” for free here (right-click and save) and buy the album SyrianamericanA on CD Baby >>

Cherif Triki’s “Imagine” provides enough energy to color this black and white video. Triki takes us through a day in the Bay Area before his lyrics take over and navigate the rest of the video into a montage of world leaders and events. Check out the video and follow along on the lyrical journey with the translation he’s shared with us below.

Song lyrics-translation:

We’re goin’ (FEN)TERNATIONAL with today’s video from Bad Brya, “On My Way.” The young Moroccan MC was born and raised in Amsterdam, Holland and was 23 when she released this video. In the summer of 2006, the video reached the #1 spot on the Moroccan video charts, where she also released an Arabic version. We recently included Bad Brya in this month’s FEN Five, if you haven’t checked that out yet, do it now >>

Toronto-based Arabesque just released this video last week. The second single off his upcoming album Nuclear Ambition, “Understand” tells the stories of landed immigrants as they struggle to assimilate. ‘Besque put the right ingredients together here — smooth flow, nice track and a well-directed video that puts real faces to the stories. It makes us want to hear/see the rest of the them…

Ridwan Adhami does it again! After the success of their video for “Keep The Record On Play” it’s no wonder Outlandish came back to NYC to shoot “Let Off Some Steam” with Ridwan, too. FEN was behind the scenes on this one, and as good as it looked in the making, we think it came out even better. If this is a formula that repeats itself, we won’t be disappointed. Stay tuned for behind the scenes footage…

What Omar Offendum has done with this song (off his upcoming album SyrianamericanA) is brilliant. Not only has he translated and interpreted one of Nizar Qabbani’s greatest poems (originally sung by Abdel Halim Hafez), he did so with depth. If you’ve ever been asked to translate the meaning of a classical Arabic song to English, you’ve no doubt traveled the tripped-up path that is trying to explain the un-explainable. What takes one or two words in Arabic can take 10 or 20 in English. And it almost always sounds corny. But not here. Props to Omar — he’s touched the untouchable, preserved it’s spirit and given it a new life that will no doubt take it to new places and new ears.

Read the original poem >>

And here’s Abdel Halim singing the original:

Nabil Elderkin strikes again. Just sit back and enjoy this one ’cause it’s beautiful. Pass this along and you’re guaranteed to brighten up someone’s day.

Over $3,000 were raised for victims of the earthquake in Haiti at the concert, held at The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew in NYC on Sunday, February 28. The concert included an eclectic range of performances, in addition to the orchestra’s already diverse selection of songs. Their fluid transition from classic Arabic songs, to a rock tune with Tool cover band Right in Tool, and to West African trio Balla Kouyate was remarkable. And Maestro Bassam Saba’s transitions from flute to nay to oud topped it off.

Check out more photos from the event below…

Nagi Youssef blesses the concert with a prayer song

Balla Kouyate (balafon) and sister Taba (singing) move the crowd

Mariana Saba sings a cover of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”

Comedian Baha Khalil is back at it again – this time giving us a taste of his guest segment on Dandana TV’s “3ala Zo2ak” show with Liza Elturk. “She approached me after one of my stand-up gigs and thought comedy would be a great addition to their already popular channel.” Apparently we weren’t the only ones who loved Baha’s live set.

Watch as the one and only, Wonho Chung, fluidly alternates between Korean to Arabic to English, from song to jokes to impersonating a dubbed soap opera and…his mother. Now, THAT is an entertainer. If you agree, leave a comment below…

The jury’s still out on whether the coolest thing about this video is either: a) Narcy’s friend telling him he needs a “fatwa” b) the dancing Gitmo prisoners or c) the deeply symbolic cartoon cloud of Narcy’s thoughts dancing on the wall. Regardless of what wins, this video is fun and thought-provoking. While the topic may at first seem standard and overdone, Iraqi-Canadian rapper The Narcicyst gives us a fresh look at a trip through customs. And it’s directed and shot so well, we can’t wait to see what’s next from director (and Narcy’s sister) Hala Alsalman.

Director Eyad Zahra’s The Taqwacores is ready to hit the big screen and even MTV is abuzz about it. The Official 2010 Selection of the Sundance Film Festival is based on Michael Muhammad Knight’s book by the same name.  Check the trailer out and let us know what you think below…

With Outlandish premiering the video for their latest single “Keep The Record On Play” online today, we hit up NYC-based director Ridwan Adhami to get the behind-the-scenes story and his thoughts on working with the internationally-renowned Arab/Desi/Latin hip-hop group:

They are a great group of guys, amazingly talented and really down to earth. This video was different in that it wasn’t really planned or scripted.

“Isam B and I have spoken quite a bit over the last year or two and have talked about working together on something we just never had the chance. The group came out to NYC for a benefit concert at the United Nations and we hooked up the next day with nothing really in mind — just to shoot some still photos. They wanted to do a video in NYC since they were there…

but the label didn’t have this song or video in the budget so they were just going to shoot something with a hand camera. When I heard this I told them we should just do it right and make a street video with them preforming all over NYC. So this video is a result of that, us driving around and hopping out when we liked the location and shooting a performance.”

Ridwan tells us there’s more to come from this collaboration, but more on that later. Let us know what you think of the song and video – keep your comments on play below.

Director Ali Mustafa’s City of Life appropriately debuted at the 6th Annual Dubai International Film Festival. Shot entirely in the fledgling city of Dubai, with its culturally schizophrenic growth at the very heart of the film, the city itself becomes a sprawling post-modern character, and first time director Mustafa doesn’t shy away from showing us the grimy as well as the glitzy elements of this character. City of Life is ambitious and looks really really slick, thanks to the spectacular cinematography of Michael Brierly.

Best described as a Middle Eastern version of Crash, where the lives of three castes of characters intersect wildly with one another to lead us to seemingly fated consequences, the film sets a strong standard as the pioneer feature of the region. Strong performances from Sonu Sood, Natalie Dormer and Yassin ‘the Narcicyst’ Al-Salman keep a relatively linear storyline fresh and compelling.

FEN first spotted Tahani Salah at Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. It would be cliche to say she stole the show. We put this video up instead, so that you can judge for yourself. Here she is performing “Hate” at Def Poetry Jam. Yo, Tahani! It’s not just Mos Def that’s proud of you! Let us know what you think below…

Rami Kashou has time and again proven his talent as a fashion designer, but his short fashion film production “Between the Lines” has earned him the title of visionary.  “Between the Lines” is a kaleidoscopic portal into Kashou’s next collection, capturing every line and contour illuminated by each model’s graceful move. Kashou’s musical choice juxtaposed a sensual aesthetic with a tame, contemporary background. Every tap of the tablah transfixes the audience on cascading evening gowns and asymmetrical pieces. Structured, yet seductively feminine, Kashou is making it loud and clear that he is so much more than the master of Grecian draping. Just one caveat for anyone who watches this short: remember to catch your breath and let us know what you think below…

Baha Khalil’s first time on stage? You wouldn’t believe it if you were there for this debut performance at the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival in May 2009, but trust: jokes were rapid-fire, laughs were loud and the vibe was right. Baha may be a newcomer, but if you ask us, he’s destined for comic-greatness. Check out our Six Questions with him after you watch this.

Suheir Hammad’s “Mike Check” is worth more than one check, more like two. As usual, she speaks for herself and for anyone else who has encountered “random” checks. Let us know what you think below…

This video turns Checkpoint 303’s “Streets O Ramallah” into a soundtrack on steroids. SC MoCha and SC Yosh have a brilliant organomusical thing going here, and anytime you make a traffic cop turn into a conductor, that’s just next level. Let us know what you think below…

Props to Leaphar on the video.