10 Reasons Why Jordan Festival Sucks!
July 14th, 2010
A post by Khobbeizeh reminded me of writing this list “digitally” and share it with you guys:
1- Jordan Festival‘s current identity has nothing to do with Jordan. The colors, maybe… Artwork quality is cool (and 2005′s circle vector designs vibe)… certainly not “Jordan” style.
2- Jordan Festival was not created by a committee that doesn’t represent Jordan also, FJF claims organizing this in collaboration with Beiteddine Festival (Lebanon) while the festival is a replica/copy of Beiteddine’s.
3- Excuse me Lebanese friends, everyone know how much I appreciate your country and talents, Lebanon is not Jordan, If we don’t have Omar Abdellat or Ferqat Al-Lawzeyyen, it doesn’t count as a Jordanian festival.
4- Jerash festival had better performances of Arab artists, Elissa was there! Besides the b***bs and all, she’s Lebanese too. Bring her back!
5- I appreciate Pink Martini… but seriously? is this commercial enough for you? Mainstream?
6- Il Divo‘s half-a-dinar pirated CDs at El-Balad are not selling, except for Philippinos (Asian minority in general) who walk from 2nd Circle to Balad, I mean seriously.
7- No offense, but even the local selection is not that impressive, Where’s Rum (Tareq An-Naser) or Hani Mitwasi (Mainsteam sell-out and also does Tarab) or Hanna Gargour… The times I saw Aziz Maraka, Jadal or Autostrad are countless. They are good, but we need fresh blood.
8- Tickets aren’t easily affordable, The cheapest tickets for some shows range between 10-40 JD… this limits attendees to rich people or simply big fans of the not-so-big names you brought into the country. If I’m already paying that much on Il Divo, I’d rather add a 20 JD and go to Tiesto‘s.
9- We are an Arab nation, our nation’s second language is English and our French is not impressive. Why have your ads in Arabic? Kazem Al-Saher & Reem Banna‘s ads are only in English? Why?
10- The event is not impressive at all, Bad selection, Bad organizing, Inexperienced staff (according to many who attended the shows). I’d say support Jara Market, at least shows are Jordanian.
Bring Jerash Festival back!! and excuse my miss-spellings, I wrote this at 4 am.
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moeys
Howdy I was going to write a long winded treatise about Jordan festival, but I decided to answer your point dear Moey.
Jordan festival is a cultural event that doesn’t mean it has to have Jordanian artist, it is made as a platform for Jordanians to experience OTHER cultures and music styles than the norm, in general, yes there are a few Jordanians in the mix but you have to have that. And yes it does count as a “Jordanian Festival” after all it is taking place in Jordan.
Stop comparing this with other festivals, we are not Carthage, beiteddine, Roskilde or what have you we are little Amman doing something that is fun.
1- I know you are talking from a Designers point of view, I as general public actually like the font and the “look” of the festivals logo, as for the identity well, most things in Jordan have an identity crisis and it is young so give them a break!
2- There is a committee, a new one it is their first year and I think for newbiews they’ve done a damned good job, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery since Beiteddine is successful why not repeat the formula.
3- Aaaah! Here it is!
4- Why Elissa when they have Kathem?
5- I was at Pink Martini, and yes it was enjoyable (although the singer could have worked on her Arabic and Turkish ohonetic presentation, but that is another matter).
6- Il Divo are bestsellers world wide, who cares about pirated cd’s, and a scolding to those of us who buy knock-offs. What are you complaining about, I wouldn’t see them live (o and let me use a word here… Playback), but why would you want to prevent the ladies from their eye-candy! And they do have good voices.
7- No we don’t, there was a discussion on FB yesterday where people where bitching about most bands being copyists and unfortunately our “fresh” blood ain’t that fresh, although there are some interesting things going on in the muzitch business these days but… Every one is unfortunately emulating someone else’s sound and voice. Fact.
8- I said on a discussion on the Festivals page, that THIS IS NOT A CHARITY EVENT. Il Divo cost to bring in, so does KAthem el saher too, it costs to bring in names and that is a fact, add to that how much stage and lighting costs add to that taxes add to that taxes on taxes and you have a good idea where the money is going.
9- Guess they are trying to get to a broader audience, and maybe roping the expats in too. Why not?
10- Moey, you know I am the biggest critique of anything that goes wrong, I have to say whomever fed you that bit of crap was so far off. I have been to the events and I can tell you, the security was excellent and polite, the way the ushers were helpful was really amazing for a Jordanian event. The quality of people there (reflected by the price of tickets) was amazing, people were well-behaved and there was no pushing shoving or fighting! Imagine that in a Jordanian event!
People were actually being civilized, and when we were waiting for the shuttle buses everyone waited politely in line, the ushers counted exactly how many people should be on the bus and let that exact amount on, no more no less. Kudos to them! Yes the Ushers are inexperienced, but find me any ushers in Jordan who are, this is not a point, they’re students, and they did an excellent job. And again do NOT compare this event to JARA, the organization that it took to set this up was monumental. The only messing thing was the food station which could have been bigger and with a bit more staff, that’s the critique I have for this.
Yes bring Jerash festival back so we can support the local and international artists, and let us also have the JOrdan Festival, I am ready to pay the price of the tickets to have a stress & fight-free event, unlike any other event where it turns int a free-for all!
I appreciate your comment Walid, but it could have been better.
Oi! What could have been better, my comment or the festival!
If it is the festival, well, no one is are infallible, and there is always a room for improvement, just give people a chance to do so!
No, give other people a chance. Younger generation maybe?
When I was a child,i used to love the music & the theme for Jerrash Festival..it was one of the Symbols for Jordan,one of the touristic events that are highly related to our touristic industry..changing the name, logo and completely changing the idea behind it doesnt make sense to me..its like changing the name of PETRA for example..I used to like it-just like the rest of Jordaians- unforunately,it lost its taste,the original taste that it had before..I strongly believe that the choices were picked up randomly( upon the availability of bands iguess lloooll or the prices of the tickts maybe)…come on..When I go to Jordan every summer i go there because i wanna see a jordaian show,not anything else..we can see these types but it doesnt have to be imposed this way..
Regarding giving them a chance: well ,you dont have to mess things up just because you are doing it for the first time cause there are others who can get it right and gues what? from the first time!!
Sa7 lsaneh Zeina