Omry Maak

Omry Maak (My Life With You)
Studio album by Angham
Released	10 August 2003 (Egypt)[citation needed]
Recorded	2001–2003[citation needed]
Genre	Rock & Roll, valse, jazz, Arabic pop, folklore, punk
Label	Alam elPhan
Producer	Alam elPhan(Producer), Mohsen Gaber (Executive producer)
Angham chronology
Leih Sebtaha (2001) Omry Maak (2003) Bahibbik Wahashteeny (2005)

Omry Maak (My Life With You) is the sixteenth full-length Arabic studio album from Egyptian pop singer Angham, launched in Egypt on August 13, 2003 (see 2003 in music) by Alam elPhan Production Company. The record showcases that Angham can sing from a soft breathy voice to strong high climaxes^{[citation needed]}. It demonstrates a lot of variety in term of music taste^{[citation needed]}, from Rock & Roll songs^{[citation needed]}to pure ballads^{[citation needed]}, indicating the permeability of Angham to sing any type of song^{[citation needed]}. It is the second most best-selling record that Angham did in her entire career^{[citation needed]}, exceeding more than 1.7 million CD^{[citation needed]}and tapes^{[citation needed]} sold around the Middle-East^{[citation needed]}. Alam elPhan granted the record a platinum recognition^{[citation needed]}. "Omry Maak" illustrate a new transition in Angham's career^{[citation needed]}. Instead of presenting records in the sole goal of showing her talents^{[citation needed]}, Angham started to pay special attention to the commercial side of her upcoming records^{[citation needed]}. It is also the first record to witness a complete and official collaboration with her second husband, Fahad, who was the sole musical arrangist of all her featured tracks except "Ana Mkhassmak" (I Am Mad At You), "T'heb Atghayar" (You Like Me To Metamorphose) and "Esra'ny" (He Captured Me). "Omry Maak" remains Angham's most creative record to date^{[citation needed]}.

Album information

Reviews^{[citation needed]}acclaimed Angham for her capacity of metamorphosing the style of her songs in "Omry Maak", combining a western flavor^{[citation needed]}in most of her songs' arrangements while keeping her arabo-Latino identity that many knew her from^{[citation needed]}. The record surpassed industry expectations when it debuted at number one on all charts^{[citation needed]} thanks to the help of her carefully selected songs^{[citation needed]}, and in the lead "Omry Maak" which had already spent five weeks^{[citation needed]} at number one on Mazzika channel^{[citation needed]} and ART Top 20 prior to the release of the record in the markets^{[citation needed]}. The latter sold 345 000 copies^{[citation needed]}the first week of release^{[citation needed]}. Angham recorded most of her tracks under the supervision of M. Nash'at Naser elDeen, Sameh elMazny, Mustafa Ra'ouf, and Hussam Radi. The mixage and digital mastering have been accomplished in Sawt elMousiqua (Voice of Music) studio with the help of M. Nash'at Naser elDeen. The cover, showing a radiant and inviting Angham, is done by photographer MKI while the design and layout were done by Bonus Euro RSCG company. The outcome of the entire record made it look like the result came smoothly^{[citation needed]}, but lots of things happened at the backstage prior to the record's birth. First, Angham's husband, Fahd, was against the release of "Omry Maak" track because he felt the song will not witness any possible success. Angham almost was going to retreat the song, until she put it back under the direction of Mohsen Gabsr who found it very new and predicted a huge success. On the same note, Angham said in Maa Hobbi (With Love) talk show on Rotana in 2007 that there is one song that she regretted putting in the album. "Ana Mkhassmak" (I Am Mad At You) - the song that Angham did not like - was too "folkore" and did not suit her. However it was kept in the record because Angham bargained that it will succeed in the young demographic proportion who does not listen to her in the first place^{[citation needed]}.

Promotion

After the release of the record, it was the feud between Mohsen Gaber and Angham over the shooting of the second music video "Arref'ha Beya" (Introduce Me To Her) that prompted Angham to end the contract with Alam elPhan. The artist complained that Gaber was not able to keep his promises. There were many things that she dreamt of doing and that he did not aid her in their accomplishment, whether financially or artistically. A rumour which turned out to be true tackled the issue of how Mohsen Gaber released a lawsuit against Angham when she left Alam elPhan toward Rotana before even terminating her old three years contract. Angham reambursed the production fees that was due to do the third record after she joined Rotana. Angham did many tours, especially in Tunisia, Egypt, and Kuweit to promote her record. However, when she joined Rotana, Angham stopped promoting "Omry Maak", and many found it unjust that she neglected the record and its success. Angham performed at "Hala Febrayer" (Welcome February) concert in 2002 and also at "Layali Dubai" (Nights of Dubai) in 2003 to support the success of her record^{[citation needed]}. According to press and reviews^{[citation needed]}, both concerts were widely successful^{[citation needed]}. She also promoted "Omry Maak" record at Marina Concert in Cairo in 2004, few months after signing the contract with Rotana. In 2003, Angham was also guest appearance in Fantasia talk show hosted by international show presenter, Razan Moghraby, on MBC channel. Angham was the sole guest appearance in Star Academy 1 where she performed "Sidi Wisalak" (Your Charm), "Mabagabsh Serty" (Did He Mention Me) and "Omry Maak".

Music video

Angham co-directed "Omry Maak" with veteran director "Ahmad elMahdy" after a successful^{[citation needed]} collaboration with him in 2001 with her hit^{[citation needed]} music video "Sidi Wisalak" (Your Charm). Angham wanted to refresh her image, and temporarily halt her status as a single and romantic woman in quest of her dream man which was shown in excess in the past music videos^{[citation needed]}. She appeared in the status of a mother, because she felt "that she so wanted to be a mother for the second time, and to live this experience again". The video begins with the percussion of a rhythm box, while showing photos and memories of Angham with Marwan, the child which played the role of her son. The transition to a rich colours occurs as Angham start singing in front of an audience, while in the backstage, the child run with a Yorkshire dog (which is Angham's own dog) to watch her perform. However, he sees her very busy and contents waiting for her for many hours on the stairs, before his mother come to pick him up. The director takes the viewers back in time to see a scene of Angham getting the child prepared to go to school. The emotional moment catches on as the child leaves the teacher's hand toward Angham to show her that he will miss her. The video ends with a closure of Angham and the child reading a book after he came back to school, with several funny and emotional scenes. Angham was going to shoot "Arrefha Beya" as her next music video, but Alam elPhan director refused. In "Omry Maak", reviews^{[citation needed]} distinguished Angham as an artist who also have acting talents^{[citation needed]}. Many cinematic industries recruited her^{[citation needed]}, but she refused their offers because she felt she was not ready for this experience yet^{[citation needed]}.

World Music Award 2004 controversy

A huge commotion and riot raised in Middle East when Latifa won the World Music Award 2004 for her record "Matrouhsh Beed" (Don't Go Away), released in the same year like Angham. [1] The record of Latifa did not surpass even 100 000 CD sold^{[citation needed]} compared to 1.7 million for Angham^{[citation needed]} and 950 000 for Nancy Ajram^{[citation needed]}. The press attributed the winning of Latifa instead of Angham as a pure act of revenge from Mohsen Gaber upon the news of Angham's departure of his company without a notice toward Rotana. Many suspected the credibility of this award.

Charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Egypt Virgin Megastores	1
UAE Virgin Megastores	1
Lebanon Virgin Megastores	5
Qatar Virgin Megastores	1
Jeddah Virgin Megastores	1
Jordan Virgin Megastores	1
Bahrain Virgin Megastores	1
Riyadh Virgin Megastores	2
Algeria Virgin Megastores	1
Tunisia Virgin Megastores	1
Morocco Virgin Megastores	1
Rotana Albums Top 100	2
Alam El Phan Top10 Albums	1
Heart Seekers Albums Top 20	1
HitMarker	1
Nojoom Top10 Albums	1
All Arab Albums Top 50	1

Track listing

1. Omry Maak (My Life With You) (Lyrics by: Ezzat elGendy | Music composed by: Sherif Tagg | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
2. Mayhemsh (It Doesn't Matter) (Lyrics by: Khaled Mounir | Music composed by: Sherif Tagg | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
3. Arrefha Beya (Introduce Me To Her) (Lyrics by: Essam Husni | Music composed by: Tamer Ali | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
4. Esra'ny (He Captured Me) (Lyrics by: Sameh elAgami | Music composed by: Sheriff Tagg | Music arrangements by: Tarek Madkour)
5. Bahtag Etkallem (In Need To Talk) (Lyrics by: Ayman Bahgat Amar | Music composed by: Khaled Ezz | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
6. T'heb Atghayar (You Like Me to Metamorphose) (Lyrics by: Tarek Abdel Setar | Music composed by: Sherif Tagg | Music arrangements by: Akram eSharkawi)
7. Ana Mkhassmak (I Am Mad At You) (Lyrics by: Nader Abdallah | Music composed by: Sherif Tagg | Music arrangements by: Mohammad Mustafa)
8. Ala Fekra (By The Way ) (Lyrics by: Saoud Ben Abdallah | Music composed by: elFaissal | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
9. Shoft elDonia (Did You See The World) (Lyrics by: Khaled Mounir | Music composed by: Sheriff Tagg | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
10. Feinak (Where Are You) (Lyrics by: Mohammad Hamed | Music composed by: Tamer Ali | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
11. Regena f'Kalamna (Back to Our Conversation) (Lyrics by: Nader Abdallah | Music composed by: Tamer Ali | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
12. Halak (Your State) (Lyrics by: Essam Husni | Music composed by: Tamer Ali | Music arrangements by: Fahd)
13. Arrefha Beya [remix] (Introduce Me To Her) (Lyrics by: Essam Husni | Music composed by: Tamer Ali | Music arrangements by: Fahd)

External links

• English translation of the song Arrafha Beya